Have you all noticed that Craftsman and faux Craftsman homes are well on their way out, as far as exterior look or elevation is concerned? A more streamlined, modern architectural look and feeling has emerged, and I, for one, like it a lot. MainVue has lead the way with their indoor – outdoor room, lots of windows and clean, classical lines. Combined with linear landscaping for the front yards and a carefully selected exterior color palette, the MainVue homes look and feel different. Allegro at Rainer Vista is very contemporary and selling well. It’s interesting how tastes change. The baby boom in post WW II produced basic, bland but affordable housing for millions. Many architects stayed away from residential home design. Then, John Buchan came along in the 70′s & 80′s and the French Countryside look became de rigueur. Craftsman soon followed in the 90′s and early 2000′s, and now, it seems, a more contemporary look is in. Could this be the influence of Gen Y (aka the Millennials, echo boomers)?
The Streetscape is Changing
May 15th, 2012March Sales Numbers are Smokin’
April 6th, 2012March new homes were just published, and sales are up 20 percent over March of last year. This is a big, big jump. Factors cited included shrinking inventory, attractive financing and the return of consumer confidence, at least in a measure. Looking at central Puget Sound (four counties), the pending sale number of 7,386 is the best March since 2006! Prices have begun to stabilize, and builders will start moving prices upward on a consistent and regular basis soon, if they haven’t already.
What Will Happen To Home Prices?
February 28th, 2012Prices have started to increase, just slightly, and this will continue. New home construction is in relatively short supply, and foreclosures/short sales are beginning to recede. So what happens, class, when demand begins to exceed supply? Prices begin to move upward. I predict that prices will increase five percent or so this year. I further suspect that interest rates will begin to increase after the election. Our buyers have already figured out everything I’ve just said, which is one reason for a seasonal sales spurt we are now enjoying.
Is It Back?
February 9th, 2012Forget the numbers, business is better. There is a strong uptick in King Çounty and parts of South Snohomish County. Pierce County is lagging a bit behind, but not by much. J. Lennox Scott, CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, recently said that “A sellers’ market has returned to the areas close to the job centers of Seattle and Bellevue, up to the one million dollar price point.” This latent demand for housing is fueled, in part, by a discernable shortage of inventory, especially new construction. The road back is under way.
Congrats to Tribute! Award Winners
October 11th, 2011The third annual Tribute! Awards held recently were another smash success from the New Home Council. This sold out event at the Bellevue Westin paid honor to the top new home sales professionals within our industry. It was wonderful to behold. And a humble Thank You from yours truly, as well.
Any New Home Inventory Left?
August 19th, 2011There were 3.65 million existing homes available for sale at the end of July, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That is about 9.4 months in existing inventory. The slow summer has not been helpful to our industry. Locally, most reports I read suggest there is four to seven months supply available, depending upon the area. We always think that anything under six months communicates a shortage of supply, though these kinds of traditional ways of looking at things appears more shaky these days. One thing is for sure, however. With fewer starts, new homes either (a) are, or (b) about to be in critical short supply situation. There are simply not enough starts.
Is Anybody Making Any Money Out There?
August 16th, 2011I just had lunch with a friend of mine who works for a terrific building company. Let me define terrific: They are still in business; all their bills are current; and they have some money in the bank. Their problem is similar to one that all of us have, namely, how in the world do we plan for the future? This month the market is down a little. Last month it was up a little. Next month, who the hell knows? After much discussion, our conclusions are that we are both lucky to be in business, and still profitable. Beyond that, we are perserving, and will continue to do so.
Jobs Mean Home Growth
August 1st, 2011Where are the jobs? There has been a pronounced slowdown in labor force growth since the 1970′sk, according to new data from Wells Fargo Economics. For us, who are building and selling new homes, this is not good news. Job growth is fuel for our fire. Fewer jobs means less revenue to pay for and finance current and future public sector spending. Any politician who is not running on a Jobs platform should not get our support.
Where Are The Jobs?
July 25th, 2011Since the 1970′s, America job growth as been declining on a percentage basis. A new study from Wells Fargo Economics has just been published, and it is chilling. Government, please listen! Less emphasis on entitlements and more attention to job growth, please. It is also interesting to note in the study that more older people are working, but fewer younger people. Extraordinary. The life blood of new home construction is family formation and new jobs. Where will they come from?
Growth Management Leads to Opposite Effect
July 13th, 2011I just finished reviewing an interesting study on www.NewGeography.com concerning the impact on the actual effects of so-called ‘Smart (read: regulated) Growth.’ 40 years ago, Sir Peter Hall, one of the world’s leading urbanologists, wrote that soaring land and house prices “certainly represent the biggest single failure” of smart growth. The findings of Hall were echoed later by a Labour Government report in the mid-2000s which showed housing affordability had sufferered under this planning regime. Further and more recent reports from New Zealand and the USA all confirm the notion that prices tend to rise when supply is restricted, all things being equal. In Washington state, the 1990 Growth Management Act (GMA), which was modeled after Oregon’s law, has created a similar circumstance. The answer, of course, is for sensible people, supported by a common-sense legislature in Olympia, look carefully at either repealing, or at least modifying, the current version of GMA.
