Is it just me or is Washington State starting to become nearly as expensive as California anymore? (Seattle: low income, transplants)

[Mopac1980]

In the past few years seems like the cost of living in Washington State has skyrocketed and it's starting to be on par with California.

I remember several years ago you could get a fairly nice 3 bedroom house for under $200,000 in cities like Spokane and the Tri-Cities, those days now seem to be long gone.

[Diana Holbrook]

You can still find a few places for under 200 in Grays Harbor or Lewis County.... but you better be a careful shopper and there won't be many good ones.

[Thom52]

House prices are skyrocketing up there.

Wages, for 90% of of the people, are still frozen at 1995 levels.

[SusVelo]

Well thank goodness California real estate hasn't gone up as well..

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by Thom52

House prices are skyrocketing up there.

Wages, for 90% of of the people, are still frozen at 1995 levels.

After grunge died, so did wage increases.

Bring Kurt Cobain back to life, and see your paycheck soar!

On a more serious note, a cursory glance at Bellevue on Zillow shows it's almost on par with Irvine, CA in terms of dollars per square foot. Both are highly desirable suburbs. Only difference is, Bellevue is right across.the lake from Seattle, while Irvine is forty miles outside Downtown LA. Plus, Bellevue has a far more walkable urban center than Irvine does. So at least in Bellevue you're getting urban amenities that you're not getting in Irvine.

Also, Irvine is building new homes that are right on a superfund site, next to a cemetery, downwind from the landfill, far from the main shopping and business areas, and close to an expanding county jail--and home prices there aren't any cheaper than in the rest of the city. That's how expensive Irvine is.

So for right now, Seattle East side is still a bit cheaper than Irvine, it would seem.

[Flightoficarus87]

It's not just you - it's not quite as bad as CA yet, but the gap has narrowed significantly in less than a decade.

The beginning of the massive Amazon boom from the early 2010s onward has more or less served as the catalyst to create the situation (i.e - bringing hordes of highly paid workers into the state and creating a big demand shock on housing in a region with challenges in addressing a supply shortage).

Granted, the effects are much more pronounced on the west side of the state, but still. LA and the Bay Area still cost more, but Seattle is probably similar to San Diego in COL at this point.

I've actually come across more than a handful of CA transplants in recent years who are surprised at how much everything costs up here now.

[rantiquity]

Of course prices in Washington are moving on par with California...what would expect when Californians are moving to Washington with a ton of money in their pockets from the sell of their property before the bottom drops out of the housing market and high property taxes.

Why are Californians moving north...State democrats spending those people money and the very large number of illegal aliens and homeless people living on the streets.

[Hemlock140]

The Bay Area is still far more expensive than the Eastside. Our house in Sammamish, for example, is valued at about 850k, while the house where I grew up in a similar neighborhood in Lafayette, CA about the same size but much older is now at $1.9 million.

That's over double.

[The.Great.Oxen]

This is why we got the **** out of WA in 2017 and will never come back. We moved down to San Antonio, and cost of living alone we basically got a $10-14,000 raise. Our house? 2700 sq ft, brick exterior, 1/4 acre yard in nice development. $205,000. Same in WA? $500-600K.

[xPlorer48]

Average selling price in Bellingham for July 2020 was $600,000. The only home under $300,000 for sale is an 800 square foot home on a very small lot in the Roosevelt neighborhood (low income + rentals).