Seattle economy soars alongside efforts to combat worsening inequality

[Docere]

One group that has seen a decline in living standards is the Black population of Seattle.

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/fyi-gu...ds-get-poorer/

Should be noted though that Seattle has seen an influx of East African immigrants, and now about 30% of Seattle's Black population is foreign born, and East Africans have very low average incomes. African Americans have been leaving the city in significant numbers, like in San Francisco. Yet this immigrant influx has kept the city at about 8% Black, had it not occurred the city would probably only be around 5-6% Black.

[Ant131531]

Yeah, I know a black family from Seattle just moved into the house next to my parent's in the Atlanta suburbs. They were solidly middle class too making good money, but apparently they have family here so they decided to move on.

[chris08876]

THE POLARIS PACIFIC REPORT Condominium Market

PDF: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/344948/f..._hsmi=16185344

Polaris Pacific has checked in with their latest report on the Seattle condo market. According to them, during the three-month period ending January 31, the median price for Seattle condos increased 0.9 percent from the prior year to $317,833 while total volume of resales decreased 2.3 percent. That continues the market rebound from 2012 for prices, though resales remain well off 2007 heights.

The area that saw the most positive growth in terms of year-over-year price and sales was Northeast Seattle, which saw a 75.8 percent price increase and 55.2 percent sales increase. West Seattle was the next-best Seattle area for price with a 9.5 percent gain. In terms of sales, Central Seattle (54.8 percent) and West Seattle (30 percent) saw big growth. Outside of Seattle, Redmond saw a big price increase (29.9 percent) but that was in part due to a 3.2 percent drop in sales.

According to the report, there are only 748 condo currently under construction in the region but there are 5,839 apartment units under construction and 4,736 apartment units approved. Bellevue (1,547), Downtown Seattle (1,009) and West Seattle (815) will be home to a bulk of them.

==============================
http://seattle.curbed.com/archives/2...-last-year.php

[mhays]

Who knows what "approved" means to these people but their apartment numbers are low, including some absurdly undercounted zones.

The "approved" title is my nemesis. In literal terms it might mean "got staff approval for a land use permit but might not have one yet, and who knows whether it has a building permit or has even applied for one". We have buildings underway now that got "approved" before the bust for example. I don't get why the land use permit (even if they get one) constitutes "approval" when the building permit is a lengthy enterprise as well. Not that I'm looking into this particular firm.

[mhays]

The past couple weeks have been pretty good for Downtown.

Amazon leased another 817,000 sf on the edge of Downtown. HBO leased 120,000(?) sf for a tech office. An article today said Expedia will move from Downtown Bellevue to a 750,000 sf former biotech campus on the waterfront near Downtown Seattle. Four separate residential projects at the 440' height have either started or said they were about to, and all four have at least demo/prep underway. Also it's been leaked/rumored that Alibaba is about to put its US headquarters in Seattle.

[chris08876]

A cool interactive map which features tons of developments. Zooming out reveals many projects encompassing the city limits. Clicking on the bubbles reveals renderings and info.

MAP: https://www.seattleinprogress.com/

City is booming!

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

I'm planning on moving to Seattle in 6 months to a year. Plleeeeeeasssse tell me it won't turn into a SF rental situation vol II.

It's going to turn into a SF rental situation vol II.

Sorry.

[mhays]

Not quite. Despite the best efforts of the local dumbass contingent, we have much less caving to NIMBYs, no rent control, etc., so our prices remain half of San Francisco's for now.

[pdxtex]

^^^^wait until socal runs out of water for real and all those rats jump ship. think the california invasion is bad now. buckle up mon, tis gun get bumpy....