I am an optimist by nature. So reading any reports that the Seattle real estate market is headed for recovery makes my day. The continual bad (although I should say realistic) news… more foreclosures, further price declines… has made even a girl like me into a glass-half-empty thinker. Imagine my delight when I logged on to CNNMoney.com and discovered a glimmer of hope!
Recently CNN Money reported that “by 2012, the national median home price is expected to rise about 4%.” Seattle is right about average. For the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area the forecast change from the first quarter, 2011 to the first quarter, 2012 is listed as increasing 3.9%.
This is a small change, just part of the slow process of climbing back to where we were in 2005/2006, but I’ll take it!
Now CNN is no magical being, sitting around a crystal ball, making completely accurate predictions about what is going to happen to our housing market. But CNN is a reputable news source, with a vast readership, and I think we can all use a positive story about the market. The more public morale about our real estate future is improved, the less people are going to walk away from their homes just because they were a ‘bad investment,’ the more buyers are going to be out there shopping and slowly our huge national inventory will shrink to more manageable levels.