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Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Seattle Not Historically Immune To Price Drops

Here's a blast from the past, courtesy of Tim from Snohomish Co. Real Estate. Source: Seattle Times. Dateline: January 10, 1991. Headline: Falling Home Prices Hit Eastside Hardest:

Home prices on the Eastside have slid 12 percent since last summer and are expected to fall that much more before heading back up.

The drop from Bothell to Coal Creek has been more severe than elsewhere in the Puget Sound region. The phenomenon that caused the slump was the same force behind the area's boom of 1988-89: new-home construction.

When home sales dropped regionally last spring, builders were forced to cut prices faster and farther than many homeowners selling existing homes. Many homeowners can wait - or choose not to sell in a slow market - while builders must sell to pay off construction loans. Interest on those loans totals $2,000 to $3,000 a month per home.
Some people seem to think that home prices can't/won't fall around here, and that they never have. Well, the second part definitely isn't true. Just thought that should be pointed out.

(Michele Matassa Flores, Seattle Times, 01.10.1991)
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2 comments:

Eleua said...

"...but this time it is different."

Yes, it is different, but the difference is this time it will not drop by 12%. It will drop better than 67%.

Anonymous said...

Prices are already dropping in Seattle- just take a close look at the MLS lists and walk around your very own neighborhood.

My daily walks have taken me by 2 in the last 2 weeks- one dropped by 50,000, another by 30,000.

They've been on the market a couple months and probably have some further droppping to go.

Anyone who buys a house or condo or anything in Seattle right now must have money to burn or rocks in their head.