Another real estate record broken - Seattle median home price hits $722K

[87112]

800k by July. Its pretty much monopoly money being thrown around. Its almost like entertainment seeing the prices rise so fast.

[Xanathos]

I don't know that the statement that nowhere in King County is affordable anymore. I don't dispute a lot of people are being pushed to Snohomish County. But cities like, say, Maple Valley - I know for a fact you can get a pretty nice house there for about 400K. It's in King County. Decided this was an interesting thing to look at data for, and noticed that home prices there have not skyrocketed like everywhere else (just Southeast in general seems to have had modest gains). Any particular reason why people aren't pushing that way, too? It's not exactly close to Seattle, but it's closer than a lot of Snohomish. Is Maple Valley built on a swamp or something? Now I'm kind of curious why that area's housing costs aren't spiking through the roof, or if it's coming and just hasn't happened yet.

[thatguy950]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

I don't know that the statement that nowhere in King County is affordable anymore. I don't dispute a lot of people are being pushed to Snohomish County. But cities like, say, Maple Valley - I know for a fact you can get a pretty nice house there for about 400K. It's in King County. Decided this was an interesting thing to look at data for, and noticed that home prices there have not skyrocketed like everywhere else (just Southeast in general seems to have had modest gains). Any particular reason why people aren't pushing that way, too? It's not exactly close to Seattle, but it's closer than a lot of Snohomish. Is Maple Valley built on a swamp or something? Now I'm kind of curious why that area's housing costs aren't spiking through the roof, or if it's coming and just hasn't happened yet.

I know it does flood out there in that area quite a bit, and it's hit by a lot of wind every year as well. Another reason being the traffic to get in and out of Seattle/Bellevue at rush "hour" (more like rush day these days) is atrocious and can literally take a couple hours each way.

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

I don't know that the statement that nowhere in King County is affordable anymore. I don't dispute a lot of people are being pushed to Snohomish County. But cities like, say, Maple Valley - I know for a fact you can get a pretty nice house there for about 400K. It's in King County. Decided this was an interesting thing to look at data for, and noticed that home prices there have not skyrocketed like everywhere else (just Southeast in general seems to have had modest gains). Any particular reason why people aren't pushing that way, too? It's not exactly close to Seattle, but it's closer than a lot of Snohomish. Is Maple Valley built on a swamp or something? Now I'm kind of curious why that area's housing costs aren't spiking through the roof, or if it's coming and just hasn't happened yet.

I think a couple of reasons...first, anything south of Seattle is considered the wrong side of the tracks by many. Now that may be far from the truth, but the perception among many is there. Also, the Mt. Rainier eruption scare is still popular in that part of the area. Especially when you get down into Enumclaw, Buckley, etc.. Personally, I don't think this threat is anywhere near the earthquake threat, and would likely provide warnings as St. Helens did.

One more thought on affordability in the Seattle area. Seattle has always been a "residents hardly ever leave" area. In other words, people who were born there or have lived there most of their lives don't usually move out. So the affordability factor really hasn't been much of a factor to these residents. A good example is my parents, who bought their first family home in the northend in 1958 for $21,000, then moved basically across the street into a larger home for $25,000. Sold that one in early '73 for $29,000. Their last home was a beauty complete with an in ground pool (rare in Seattle), for $42,000. Sold it upon health issues in 2002 for $345,000. The home today is estimated to be worth $950,000. So not everyone in Seattle is rich, they just rode the wave.

[noah]

You hit the nail on the head, the Tech jobs are not the main driver. If they were how do you explain all time high prices and 25% YOY drop in inventory in places like Spokane, certainly not high paying jobs. And you can add 25 other cities across the country with similar trends. Certainly much more intense here as it always is on the west coast but the theme is the same.

Originally Posted by Xanathos

It has almost NOTHING to do with jobs or tech wages.

Here, I'll give you a great example: Our realtor recently made our house available as a "stealth" listing (it "officially" goes on the market next month). Within 5 days, we had 9 offers.....and 7 of them were from Chinese trusts. One other was a domestic REIT. Only one was an individual/family. All cash/no contingencies/waive inspection from the trusts, 4 of them well over what our realtor signaled out our asking price was.

We wanted to just take one of those and be done with it, but we got convinced to let it ride because those same offers would still show up later.

And I'll tell you right now, the tech jobs up here aren't paying enough for $700,000 houses - at least not without a double income family. Your average tech job in Seattle that's not tied to Amazon stock prices is going to make enough to comfortably afford 500K, stretching to 6 if they want to be risky. So you've either got to be a DINK household with at least 1 person in tech and one person in a classic job role, or a dual income with kids with 2 tech salaries at this point. And keep in mind, these guys are the cream of the wage earners here, so if you need more than just that....it's over.

[homesinseattle]

It's interesting, move just a little outside of the super hot area: things take a little longer to sell and you definitely get more for your money. Meadowbrook and Cedar Park in NE Seattle are good examples of this.