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Seattle-area housing market sees shortage of homes, multiple offers

SEATTLE – The Seattle area housing market in June saw a combination of a shortage of inventory and high buyer demand, pointing to a “very robust” market in the region, experts said. Even as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to change some of the ways people buy and sell houses, the housing market in the region appears strong, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing[...]

Despite pandemic, Seattle region’s pending home sales outrun last year’s level | Coronavirus Economy daily chart

Despite pandemic, Seattle region’s pending home sales outrun last year’s level | Coronavirus Economy daily chart By Seattle Times business staff Buyers of single-family homes overcame the obstacles of the coronavirus shutdown and managed to clinch more deals last week than in the comparable week of 2019. The pace of sales was more than double the recent low point at the end of March. New[...]

Surprise! Weekly Mortgage Applications are up.

Surprise! Weekly Mortgage Applications are up. If the number of recent weekly mortgage applications are any indication, they point to a remarkable (and unexpectedly early) recovery in homebuying.- Purchase volume was just 1.5% lower than a year ago, a rather stunning recovery from just over a month ago, when purchase volume was down 35% annually. – Mortgage applications to purchase a home[...]

The W-Shaped Rebound

The rebound of the U.S. housing market will not look like a “V” or a “U.” Rather it would be a “W,” according to the updated 2020 forecast of real estate listings website Realtor.com. According to the company’s economics team, national home sales will improve in July, August and September, largely driven by demand from millennial shoppers and transactions in secondary markets,[...]

Blue Origin takes one giant leap across the street to space venture’s new HQ in Kent

Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith addresses a crowd of VIPs and employees at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the company’s new headquarters in Kent, Wash. A mockup of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander stands in the background. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) KENT, Wash. — Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space effort now officially has more space. To be precise, 232,885 square feet more space. That’s[...]

PMF Investments Submits Plans For 4.8-Acre Development Near Bellevue Light Rail Hub

Plans for a 4.8-acre redevelopment project near the Bellevue East Main Light Rail Station were recently submitted, making it the first East Main Bellevue Transit Oriented Development to begin construction. The site will include more than 1M SF of office space, 45K SF of retail space and 145 multifamily units. It will also feature a 2-acre enhanced pedestrian plaza. The Bellevue-based PMF[...]

Seattle among tech cities showing strongest wage growth in PayScale’s latest compensation index

Amazon’s main headquarters campus continues to take shape this month in downtown Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) It pays to be in tech, and in Seattle. The city landed among the top metro areas in the U.S. when it comes to strong wage growth in the Q3 2019 PayScale Index, which tracks quarterly and annual trends in compensation and provides a national forecast for the coming[...]

Microsoft to host Seattle summit on high-speed rail connecting Pacific Northwest cities

Microsoft President Brad Smith announced the company’s latest commitment to high-speed rail in the Pacific Northwest at the 2019 Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference. (GeekWire Photo / Monica Nickelsburg) High-speed rail in the Pacific Northwest has long been a dream of Microsoft and the tech giant is accelerating efforts to make that dream a reality.Next month, Microsoft will host[...]

Google expands Seattle-area footprint with huge office purchase at new Kirkland Urban development

Google expands Seattle-area footprint with huge office purchase at new Kirkland Urban development Google now owns 400,000 square feet of office space at the new Kirkland Urban mixed use development in the Seattle region. (Ryan Properties Photos) Google now owns 400,000 square feet of office space at the new Kirkland Urban mixed use development in the Seattle region. (Ryan Properties[...]

Facebook grows to 5,000 employees in Seattle region, opens its 18th office at downtown tower

Facebook grows to 5,000 employees in Seattle region, opens its 18th office at downtown tower BY MONICA NICKELSBURG on September 26, 2019 at 10:21 am Facebook’s Seattle site lead, Vijaye Raji, speaks at an event Thursday at the company’s newest Seattle-area building. (GeekWire Photo / Monica Nickelsburg) Facebook’s footprint in the Seattle area continues to grow as the social media giant[...]