Foreign Investment in Seattle

Another great training I attended last week was a clock hour class sponsored by Chicago Title that was a Regional Outlook for 2016. Featured speakers were Mike Appleby with Chicago's Builder Division in Snohomish county; Dan Shin, real estate attorney specializing in foreign investors from Asia; and Jennifer O'Neal, a cultural anthropologist specializing in foreign cultures.


There were several surprises to me in the content of this class:

• The Seattle metro area may very well be the #1 job market in the country, with a historic all-time low of 3.7% unemployment
• The Seattle area is projected to add over 1.2million people in the next 20 years
• Increasing the supply of buildable land, and dealing with water rights are two of the top issues addressing this population growth
• Seattle is the third most congested city in the US; we are #9 on the list of most well-educated states. Yet, the University District was recently named the most affordable, walkable neighborhood in the US.
•  The residential construction industry is the fifth largest local employer, ahead of Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, and Costco.We are at an all-time high for the local construction industry.
• Zillow lists Seattle as the 2nd hottest residential market in the country, with prices estimated to rise 5% in the coming year. We had perhaps the fastest home price increases in the country in 2015.
• 40% of all Bellevue residents were born in another country
• 56% of area sales - and 40% of high end home sales - were to foreign investors, mostly Asian.
• The average college student debt is $35,000.
• As credit has tightened, an additional 5.2million people did not qualify for mortgages.
• One-third of all homebuyers now pay cash for their homes. 

Dan Shin's presentation was all about the explosion of Asian investment in the Seattle market, and it was fascinating. I will blog about that tomorrow.

Happy Investing!

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