The real estate news for cities like Seattle is actually looking up despite the recent downturn in the economy that has seen home values plummet over the last couple of years. The current median home price is $371,000, which is approximately 15 percent lower than the median value in 2006. That is the bad news. But real estate professionals such as Neil Kornswiet have been watching the market and putting together the facts, and it looks like things are looking up in some lucky cities like Seattle.
Although there has been a 15.2 percent decrease in Seattle’s median home values since 2006, experts say that by June of 2011 there should be a gain of 3.8 percent. Part of the good real estate news for Seattle has to do with its vibrant economy with major employers such as Boeing and Microsoft, which has allowed the city to avoid the major unemployment woes of other areas of the country. The city’s 8.8 percent unemployment rate sounds pretty rosy compared to cities like Detroit and others that have suffered more greatly during the bad economy. And the decrease in home values might seem bad, but it is actually about half the national average.
Experts say there will still be another 2.3 percent decrease in home values in Seattle over the next couple months, but after June, things should start looking up. Real estate analysts estimate a 6.2 percent gain between June 2010 and June 2011, which will average out to a 3.8 percent increase over the next two years.
This may not seem like the most positive real estate news since there will be no double-digit increases in home values any time soon, but the fact that values are increasing instead of decreasing is very good news indeed. It appears as if things will stop getting worse and start getting better very soon.
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