Market News

Social Links Widget

Click here to edit the Social Media Links settings. This text will not be visible on the front end.

Market News An Incoming Tide Raises All Ships: How the Growth in Homeowner Equity Continues to Stabilize the U.S. Housing Market With home prices rising and consumers not taking on additional mortgage debt, equity levels have grown substantially. The country went through a very painful period of negative equity during the housing recession, but the growth started returning in 2012, and we moved back into a period of positive equity again by the summer of 2013. In 2015, equity levels increased by an impressive 10.2 percent
Market News Western Washington Real Estate Market Update Washington State has seen very robust growth over the past 12 months with the addition of 102,600 new jobs, which is 224,000 more jobs than seen at the previous peak in 2008. With this robust growth, it is unsurprising to see the unemployment rate trend down to 5.8%—well below the long-term average of 6.4%. As pleasing as it is to see the unemployment rate drop, it is equally pleasing to see...
Market News What’s the Deal with Condos? The Greater-Seattle region continues to grow its population base but not its land base. As such, density needs to be embraced. Condominiums play an important part of the equation, but until this segment of the market regains its footing, there will be further pressure on housing of all types to accommodate the region’s growth, and this will continue to put upward pressure on prices.
Market News Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update The Oregon economy continues to expand and I do not see this changing in the foreseeable future. However, similar to many West Coast markets, Oregon’s inventory constraints are becoming problematic. I believe we will see more listings come online in 2016 as home equity levels continue to expand, but unfortunately it will not be enough to meet demand...
Market News Western Washington Real Estate Market Update The Washington State economy has added almost 370,000 jobs since the lowest point of the recession at the start of 2010. Additionally, total employment is 176,000 jobs higher than seen at the 2008 peak. With a vast majority of our metropolitan areas having fully recovered from the job losses seen during the recession, I expect to see somewhat more modest job growth in the coming year.
Market News 2016 Economic & Housing Forecast It appears that 2016 will be a year of few surprises as it pertains to the housing market. Because it’s an election year, we shouldn’t expect to see any significant governmental moves that would have a major impact on the U.S. economy or housing market. Read about this and more in Windermere Chief Economist Matthew Gardner’s 2016 forecast.
Market News Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update Although the rate of growth has slowed somewhat, the Oregon economy continues to expand its job base. There was a decline in employment in September and the unemployment rate rose, but I do not see this as a trend so much as a temporary “blip”. I anticipate that, going forward, the State will continue to see growth at rates above the national average.
Market News Understanding the Chinese Home Buyer in the U.S. Housing Market Earlier this week, Bill Russell, head of International Development for Chinese real estate website, Juwai, spoke to a large group of Windermere agents about how to connect to Chinese buyers. Since China is a country with very different marketing tactics and a culture drastically different than our own, we were able to learn a great deal.
Don't Miss Our Next Post
Subscribe Now
Market News Western Washington Real Estate Market Update After a period of above-average growth, Washington State has seen a modest slowing in employment growth, but we continue to add jobs at a respectable rate. The State unemployment rate was measured at 5.3%, marginally above the national level, but it is trending in the right direction.
Market News Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update The Oregon economy has regained its traditional job growth advantage relative to the nation with employment growth running about one percent higher than a typical state. With the expansion in employment—in concert with rising wages—the economy appears to be in good shape. Although not yet at full employment, the direction is very positive.
Market News Will Millennials be ‘Perma-renters’? There has been a lot of buzz in the news recently suggesting that millennials will forever be renters and not homeowners. Reasons for this theory include amenities that apartments offer, flexibility when it comes to moving and changing jobs, and inability to afford a home given the crushing student debt load many are carrying. So will this be the renter generation? Let’s take a look at the data.
Market News Western Washington Real Estate Market Update Washington state appears to be pretty much firing on all cylinders with annual employment growth well above 100,000 and the unemployment rate trending down toward 5%. A ll in all, it’s difficult to f ind something to worry about at the moment.
Market News Homeownership Has Declined, But It Won’t Be Forever In addition to talking about housing bubbles, another topic that is becoming popular among housing scaremongers is the ongoing decline in the U.S. homeownership rate. Remarks range from the direct, “American homeownership is at its lowest level in more than two decades,” to the downright inflammatory, “Rental surge to drop homeownership rate to 61.3% by 2030”.
Market News No Housing Bubble in Sight – For Now So here we are, a decade later, and some are starting to suggest that we are on the verge of another “bubble” bursting due to an overheated housing market. I’m often asked if there is any truth to this, and my response is no, I don’t believe there is a national bubble on the horizon. And here are the reasons why:
Market News Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update First quarter had 10,269 home sales, which is an annual increase of 16.9%.
Market News Western Washington Real Estate Market Update This speedometer reflects the state of the region’s housing market using housing inventory, price gains, sales velocities, interest rates, and larger economic factors. As you can see, we are still very clearly in the midst of a seller’s market, and unless we see a significant increase in listings, it will remain that way for the foreseeable future.
Market News Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update Total sales in 2014 were 3.8 percent higher than those seen in 2013; however, inventory constraints in many markets kept this number below its full potential.
Market News Western Washington Real Estate Market Update 2014 was a pretty good year for the 15 counties covered in this report. In total, Western Washington added 65,710 jobs in 2014, up from the annual rate of 62,520 through the third quarter, which is a growth rate of 2.9 percent. For comparison purposes, the state as a whole grew by 2.7 percent and employment nationwide rose by 1.9 percent.
Market News Oregon and Southwest Washington Real Estate Market Update I am pleased that we can, at last, say that the Oregon economy is expanding. Although this rate of expansion is certainly not at the level that I would like to see, it is now outperforming the U.S. as a whole, which is a promising sign.
Market News Western Washington I 2014 Third Quarter Market Update Our region’s economy continues to expand but the rate of growth is tapering. This is not surprising, and as long as we can continue to say that our region is growing at a faster rate than the country as a whole, we are in pretty good shape.

About Us
Connect with an Agent
Windermere Careers
Contact Us

Real Estate Blog
Windermere Foundation
Home Worth Calculator
Windermere Search AppSite Map

©2026 Windermere Real Estate Services Company / All rights reserved / Terms / Privacy / Feedback / Site Map