Home prices in the Puget Sound region continue to skyrocket as buyers engage in intense bidding wars and demand continues to outpace supply.
Like many places across the nation, the Puget Sound region continues to feel the pain of an overheated housing market, reports Nick Bowman. Despite a jump of 40 percent in new listings in February, prices remain high and inventory continues to trail demand.
Around the region, "median residential home prices still continued to climb year-over-year in February, increasing by over 14%, 19%, and 15%, respectively, in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. That trend has been even more pronounced in other areas, evidenced by a 21% increase in Kitsap County, where market activity 'is up across the board,' notes Frank Wilson, a regional manager at John L. Scott Real Estate."
"Meanwhile, expensive bidding wars have continued to cause headaches for buyers, with one Berkshire Hathaway broker recalling a recent prospective instance where a purchaser offered $250,000 over the asking price of a $2 million Wallingford home, 'only to be outbid by several hundred thousand dollars,'" Bowman writes.
Industry experts see "no relief in sight" for 2022.
FULL STORY: ‘No relief in sight’ for hyper-competitive Puget Sound housing market
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association