Seattle

Savings on Auto-Pilot: How Much Less Could Driverless Car Commuting Cost?

Thanks to ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, the cost of getting a door-to-door ride of a few miles today is less expensive than ever. And looking ahead, switching to a driverless system could eliminate roughly two-thirds of the current cost of a typical Uber ride (even using very conservative assumptions) – helping pave the way for a dramatic re-imagining of public transit planning and affordable community development.

Alexander Casey • Mar 08 2017

Room for Rent: Exploring Rental Vacancy Rates in Urban, Suburban and Rural America

Rental vacancy rates in the country’s largest cities reached historic lows in 2016, even as rental vacancies remained stubbornly high in the nation’s rural communities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Aaron Terrazas • Feb 28 2017

January 2017 Market Report: The Rest Overtake the West

In January, U.S. median home value growth continued to accelerate year-over-year, the 22 month out of the past 23 in which annual growth was similar to or faster than the prior month. But while the national trend has remained roughly the same for two years, a slowdown in growth in a handful of pricey West Coast markets, particularly in California, has opened the door for more affordable markets in the South to top the list of the nation’s fastest-growing metros.

Svenja Gudell • Feb 23 2017

Local Opportunities: Finding Relatively Affordable Housing, Even in Largely Unaffordable Markets

Some of the metros with the best job prospects are also the ones with the least affordable housing, making it difficult for new residents – especially renters – to get a toehold in the housing market. But even within these very expensive metros, pockets of relative affordability do exist at a city level, offering some hope for new residents and would-be job seekers.

Sarah Mikhitarian • Jan 27 2017

December 2016 Market Report: What Could Flattening Rents Mean for 2017?

A months-long streak of accelerating home value growth was met with an equally long stretch of flattening rents to end 2016, a trend with interesting implications for the housing market as a whole as attention turns to the busy 2017 home shopping season to come.

Svenja Gudell • Jan 19 2017

November 2016 Market Report: Home Values Growing at Fastest Pace Since 2006

As 2016 comes to a close, annual growth in rents has stabilized, the number of homes listed for sale is at its lowest point on record and annual home value growth is accelerating. Looking ahead into 2017 and beyond, all three of these trends are likely to continue influencing each other and the market as a whole.

Svenja Gudell • Dec 22 2016

October 2016 Market Report: Change is Coming. Really.

Svenja Gudell • Nov 29 2016

What Distinguishes the Markets Renters Want to Move to From the Markets Renters Want to Leave

The (real or imagined) allure of greener pastures beyond the horizon is a near-constant theme in the American national imagination, and regional migration – the movement of people across the country – is among the most important drivers of local differences in housing demand and desirability. And in the simplest sense, areas with lots of people looking to leave can often be considered less desirable, while markets with lots of people eager to move in are likely more desirable. But not always.

Aaron Terrazas • Oct 26 2016

Why Vancouver’s New Real Estate Tax Won’t Have a Big Impact on Seattle

I’ve been asked a lot lately: Will Vancouver’s new 15 percent tax on non-Canadian buyers of local real estate push more foreign buyers to consider Seattle-area real estate instead? I understand the concern, but I think in practice, these fears are likely overblown.

Svenja Gudell • Oct 25 2016

Q3 2016 Market Report: High Demand Continues to Put Pressure on Home Values

Now three-fourths of the way through 2016, the trends we’ve seen shaping the market throughout much of the year – namely, high demand for homes to buy and low supply of homes for sale, which have conspired to push up prices – look firmly entrenched.

Svenja Gudell • Oct 20 2016