Uncategorized April 6, 2021

The Gardner Report – Q4 2020

Our Western WA real estate market data is updated quarterly to aid in your real estate forecasts. Historical Western WA real estate data and trends are included below the latest update. We break down our data by county, but we cover major cities in this region including Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett.

After the COVID-19-induced declines, employment levels in Western Washington continue to rebuild. Interestingly, the state re-benchmarked employment numbers, which showed that the region lost fewer jobs than originally reported. That said, regional employment is still 133,000 jobs lower than during the 2020 peak in February. The return of jobs will continue, but much depends on new COVID-19 infection rates and when the Governor can reopen sections of the economy that are still shut down. Unemployment levels also continue to improve. At the end of the quarter, the unemployment rate was a very respectable 5.5%, down from the peak rate of 16.6% in April. The rate varies across Western Washington, with a low of 4.3% in King County and a high of 9.6% in Grays Harbor County. My current forecast calls for employment levels to continue to improve as we move through the spring. More robust growth won’t happen until a vaccine becomes widely distributed, which is unlikely to happen before the summer.

Read more at: https://www.windermere.com/market-update/western-washington