Windermere Mount Baker Presents 2017 Housing Market Predictions

Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist for Windermere Real Estate

Last year was was another stellar year for the Seattle housing market, in which a surplus of buyers and a deficit of sellers drove home prices higher across the board.

Will we see more of the same this year, or is a cool down in the cards? How will the economy hold up under a new administration? Are we in another housing bubble?

Next month, join Chief Economist for Windermere Real Estate, Matthew Gardner with predictions on the Seattle/King County housing market for the coming year.

“I have always found Matthew Gardner’s talks to be very informative to me personally and very helpful to my buyers, sellers and investors.” said longtime Windermere Mount Baker realtor Serena Heslop. “Education is key to me and having an overall perspective of the local economy and the housing market, really helps clients to feel confident in making the right decisions, when buying or selling a home.”

As Chief Economist for Windermere Real Estate, Gardner is responsible for analyzing and interpreting economic data and its impact on the real estate market on both a local and national level. Matthew has more than 28 years of professional experience analyzing housing both in the U.S. and U.K.

In addition to his day-to-day responsibilities, Matthew also chairs the Board of Trustees at the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington; sits on the Urban Land Institutes Technical Assistance Panel; and is an Advisory Board Member for the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington where he also lectures in real estate forecasting.

He recently said on his blog that he expects the big story for the coming year to be first-time home buyers.

“Since they don’t need to sell before purchasing, their reemergence into the market ensures that sales will continue to increase, even while inventory is limited,” he says. “Thirty-one percent of buyers currently in the real estate market are first-time buyers, but it would be more ideal if that figure was closer to 40 percent.”

That said,  one of the first acts of the Trump Administration was to reverse a mortgage-fee cut intended to help new, low-income borrowers.

“According to our estimates, roughly 750,000 to 850,000 homebuyers will face higher costs and 30,000 to 40,000 new homebuyers will be left on the sidelines in 2017 without the cut,” said the National Association of REALTORS.

The event, “2017 Housing Market Predictions” is planned for Thur., Feb. 9, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Mount Baker Community Club (2811 Mount Rainier Dr S, Seattle, WA 98144).

Please contact me directly (serena@windermere.com/206-999-8159) if you’d like to attend. Thank you!

This article was reposted with permission from GO: South Seattle.