NEWS & INSIGHTS
What’s Happening
Monthly Market Update
May marked a month of new records for some Northwest MLS market indicators
KIRKLAND, Washington (June 7, 2021) – May was a month of record-setting highs and lows for some key housing market indicators tracked by Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Northwest MLS director Robb Wasser, branch manager at Windermere Real Estate/East in Bellevue, noted the number of active listings for single family homes [..]
Industry News
Banking Inclusion Initiative launched to help unbanked individuals and communities
Pledging to accelerate unbanked individuals’ access to affordable mainstream accounts and to address long-standing inequities, Wells Fargo & Company last month launched a 10-year commitment dubbed the Banking Inclusion Initiative. The financial services company will focus on Black and African Americans, Hispanics, and Native American/Alaska Native families. Together, the target [..]
Industry News
Condo comeback fueling FOMO
Condos are making a comeback, declared Dean Jones, head of a Seattle-based real estate consultancy and brokerage that specializes in market research, product development, marketing and sales. In a recent blog for Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty (RSIR) where he is CEO and owner, Jones described the current market in the [..]
Industry News
Seattle claims fastest growing city title for 2020
Seattle added 16,400 more residents between July 1, 2019 and July 1, 2020, bumping up its population by 2.2%. That growth rate in the midst of the global pandemic and widespread civil unrest – made it the nation’s fastest-growing big city in 2020. Only one other city in Washington with [..]
Industry News
New appliance converts food scraps, other waste into compost
Within days of its rollout, a Canadian company trashed its modest funding goal for a revolutionary kitchen device that converts waste into compost – but it wasn’t because of skeptics. Apparently, 8,100 backers agreed “food waste is gross. It’s time for a change.” They gave Lomi (the name of the [..]
Industry News
News In Brief: June 2021
When you go through the security line at the airport, unless you’re in pre-check, you know the drill. Take off your shoes and put them back on. But that could be a thing of the past soon, thanks to new shoe scanning technology developed by researchers at a Washington state-based [..]
Industry News
Study shows how overregulation worsens housing affordability crisis
Regulatory costs account for $93,870, or 23.8% of the current average sales price of a new home ($394,300), according to a recent study by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The group said rising regulatory costs are a limiting factor on housing supply, “particularly for the entry-level market in [..]
Industry News
Give someone the freedom of movement
Photo courtesy of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties Members of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish counties (MBAKS) and community volunteers will dedicate their time on September 25 to build wheelchair ramps at homes throughout King and Snohomish counties. Applications for deserving recipients will [..]
Industry News
Students draft ordinance to enable tiny home villages in Lewiston
Photo courtesy of Washington State University Tiny home villages may someday provide an affordable housing option in Lewiston, Idaho, thanks in part to students at Washington State University. Nine senior landscape architecture students and an interior design student worked together to draft a model ordinance that would allow and regulate [..]