What does Vancouver’s housing market implosion mean for the Seattle area?
Journalist and author Paul Roberts reports in Crosscut about the implosion in Vancouver, B.C.'s housing market and its effects on the Seattle housing market.
Only three months ago, the British Columbia Real Estate Association forecasted a rosy 5.8 percent price increase for Vancouver-area housing in 2017. But in a report last week, the organization predicted that prices would instead fall by almost nine percent.
So, what, if anything, does Vancouver’s implosion mean for the Seattle area? A great deal, actually. Already, some of the foreign capital that was either in Vancouver or headed there has since shifted to other markets — notably, our own. Realtors here report a steady uptick in purchases by wealthy foreign buyers. Dean Jones, head of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty, which focuses in part on Asian buyers, estimates that half of the Seattle-area suburban home sales handled by the firm this year have involved Chinese buyers — up from perhaps 30 percent in 2015, according to a recent Bloomberg story.
FULL STORY: Vancouver’s housing mess: Could it happen here?
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
New Park Opens in the Santa Clarita Valley
The City of Santa Clarita just celebrated the grand opening of its 38th park, the 10.5-acre Skyline Ranch Park.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
How Urban Form Impacts Housing Affordability
The way we design cities affects housing costs differently than you might think.
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