Matthew Gardner, of Gardner Economics,  spoke at our annual Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc kick-off meeting today.  Mr. Gardner shared his thoughts about the local economy and Seattle real estate. Here are some of the highlights:

• Seattle will recover more quickly than other parts of the west.
• Growth will be slow and from the center, Seattle, out to the suburbs.
• The private sector has increased job growth in the last 4-5 months and will continue to do so.

Private Sector Employment in the Seattle Area

• There will be more price corrections for those hi-rise condos that have not sold both in Seattle and Bellevue.
• Buyers are still looking for good deals and feel uncertainty remains.
• Prices are stable and, hopefully, will stay that way this year.
• Banks are not releasing all of the bank owned homes to sell. The banks would go bankrupt if they flooded the market with these homes, causing prices to drop.
• Mortgage rates will increase:  over 5% this year, 6% in 2012, and 7% by 2014.

30 Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Predictions

Here’s a few of Mr. Gardner’s thoughts for 2011 from the first of the year.

What do you think?  Is this what you see happening in the area and with real estate?