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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?
