Affordability declines are worrisome, but consistent with strong markets for the past 30 years. More troublesome is the inability to find affordable starter homes. |
As a result, we should see a stabilizing in prices to bring them more in line with inflation. |
Buyers now don't have to put money down on the first house they see. They can be more selective. |
Despite the bad press, the number of home sales during the October through December period was higher than during the last quarter of 2004, but the small year-to-year increase suggests that some slowing of the market is under way. |
It was a noteworthy decline. But at this point, we can't tell who is leaving the market: the first time home buyers, the people trading up. ... |
More troublesome is the inability to find affordable starter homes. |
Take downtown Seattle for example, where there seems to be condo projects springing out of the ground everywhere. The same thing's happening in downtown Spokane. |
The difference here is in incomes. |
The large percentage change in building permits are usually because of a large apartment building or two, but that's not what's happening in Cowlitz County --- most are single-family dwellings. |
The prices are lower than in many parts of the state, even though the incomes are fairly average. |
There's clearly a wait-and-see attitude. Still, the underlying economics are still strong enough that job holders will get into the market -- interest rates still represent a bargain. |
With the holidays, we don't have a lot of people putting listings on, or a lot of traffic from prospective buyers. |