Seattle Medium
Experts are beginning to ask if the Seattle-area housing market is cooling down? The average price for a home in Washington is $627,000. Housing prices coming down is great for those in Seattle looking to buy a home. For-sale signs and open houses dot lawns in West Seattle now. But, what about inflation? Inflation has been rising so fast that despite the pay raises many workers have received, most consumers are falling behind the pace of cost-of-living expenses.
There looks to be more houses on the market. Housing prices are cooling down and the 30-year mortgage dropped a quarter of a percent this week, according to the NASDAQ. Even with this news, high inflation and another federal interest rate hike has some backing off.
Many people are waiting for prices to come down more. It is also being reported that houses are staying on the market a lot longer. House prices are dropping anywhere from $50,000-100,000. I’ve seen houses drop $300,000. But, some realtors are saying that what we are seeing is the housing market going back to normal.
And then there is inflation. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 1% from May to June, faster than the 0.6% rise from April to May and the biggest such jump since 2005. An inflation gauge that is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.8% in June from a year ago. This is the biggest increase in four decades.
The persistence of inflation is eroding purchasing power, dimming confidence in the economy. This does not look good for the Democrats in Congress in the run-up to the November midterm elections.
The government’s report also shows consumer spending has weakened in the face of high inflation. But it’s helping fuel inflation itself, with demand still strong for services ranging from airline tickets and hotel rooms to restaurant meals and new and used autos.
