Seattle Real Estate Housing Values Drop

Prices are dropping for Seattle real estate but how low will they go? Economist Andrew Gledhill predicts that Seattle housing values will drop 11% from July 2007 to the first or second quarter of 2009 before rebounding.”We’re a little over the halfway point,” he estimates. Since June 2006, values have declined 6.5%, he adds.

Matthew Gardner, a Seattle land-use economist, scoffed at the numbers. “I just find it absolutely ridiculous when you hear these kinds of numbers and everybody’s supposed to get excited about it. Do I expect to see double-digit declines? I don’t.” Compared to other markets, which may drop 23% from their peak, Seattle WA real estate isn’t faring so bad, he adds.

Some areas of Seattle real estate aren’t really affected at all, in fact. For example, luxury homes in King County are still selling at a median price of $454,950 and sales were only down 1.1% since last year. Similarly, houses in Seattle and Bellevue are still selling due to high demand, owing in part to the high number of jobs in the area.
With the summer coming up and interest rates low, some predict the Seattle WA real estate market will bounce back quicker than expected. J. Lennox Scott, real estate CEO, explains, “There are such great opportunities for buyers right now to position themselves for the future. Interest rates are historically low, there’s a healthy inventory of homes to choose from, and the new, higher conforming loan limits have increased housing affordability. If you’re a buyer, this is the time to take advantage of these unique market conditions.”