Forbes calls Seattle best housing bet!

I mentioned this in a previous post but feel it is worth highlighting again. Forbes.com has pegged Seattle as the #1 city to target for long-term real estate purchases going forward. Seattle is at the top of their list of cities that are least likely to overheat and bust in addition to having the most prospering economies going forward.

Here's what they had to say in regards to Seattle:

What lands it in the first position on this list is the combination of strong job growth with a building cycle that hasn't run in high excess of demand and, in part, its constrained geography. Especially compared to cities on the West Coast, Seattle has historically not overheated in boom times.

There's just less room to grow and few laws that make it easy to do so. In these markets, building activity doesn't rise as hastily during national booms, and, as a result, doesn't crash as dramatically during slowdowns (based on historical volatility and current market conditions).

While this doesn't necessarily ease the pain of current declines in home values, it should be one more piece of evidence that buying real estate in Seattle has been and will continue to be an extremely solid long-term investment. Now, more than ever, prices in Seattle have become extremely affordable compared to recent years. This is a correction from the minor inflation of value over the last ten years. First-time home buyers who now see their first in-city home as attainable will be the heroes of this current market. As they start to snap up their first home, this will release current sellers and allow them to move up as they have been wanting...thus creating a chain reaction. Hopefully positive media attention to Seattle, such as this Forbes article, will encourage home buyers to get into the game!


Read the full article here.