Housing Supply and Affordability Issues and What Can Be Done
Hi folks! Yesterday I was on the Sparkling Entrepreneur Real Estate podcast and asked “What are you curious about right now?” Since I was also preparing for this month’s Market Minute, I shared my curiosity about the current state of the economy relative to our housing supply and affordability issues, and the efforts underway at both local and national levels to try to address the challenges.
Our population grew by more than 300,000 residents since 2010 and projections are that this trend will continue. Based on a 2018 report from the King County Affordable Housing Task force, projected growth and rising home and rent prices necessitate 244,000 affordable homes by 2040. Our area has suffered from a low supply and high demand for housing for several years fueled in part by the numerous tech companies expanding their footprints here. As a result, the median home price on the Eastside from August of 2012 to August of 2021 went from $517,000 to $1,300,000. Seattle growth over the same period showed a similar trend line.
So what can be done? Solutions aren’t easy and will not address the problem overnight. The Biden administration has some aggressive housing goals to make housing more affordable as well as loan programs more accessible. Locally, we must increase supply. But this requires changing the sentiment about housing density and accessibility – finding ways to provide for Multi Family Units, Additional Dwelling units and enacting changes to regulations and our Growth Management Act.
We need a variety of solutions while also thinking through the implications of proposed policies that end up being counter-productive to that goal such as the infamous Amazon Head Tax. To be clear, this is a complex problem that will require multi-faceted solutions. As a Washington Realtor State Director and active participant in Seattle King County Realtors sub-committee on government affairs I work alongside colleagues and government liaisons to understand and advocate for appropriate solutions.
𝐀𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮!
Call/text or email me anytime! ginam@windermere.com.
