Seattle adds 12,638 people in a year

Ben Miller Contributing Editor-Puget Sound Business Journal

The population of Seattle increased by 12,638 people from July 2011 to July 2012 to a total of 634,535, which was the 14th-largest increase of any U.S. city.

According to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, New York City added the most people — 67,058 — from July 2011 to July 2012, followed by Houston (34,625 people added), Los Angeles (34,483), San Antonio (25,400) and Austin (25,395).

Seattle is now ranked No. 22 in the U.S. in total population, right ahead of Denver, with 634,265 people, and right behind Boston, with 636,479.

Spokane is the nation’s 103rd-largest city, with 209,525 people. Tacoma is No. 108, with 202,010 people, and Vancouver, Wash. is No. 145, with 165,489 people.

Bellevue is No. 202 with 126,439 people; Kent is No. 213 with 122,999; and Everett is No. 269 with 104,655 people.

Buying beats renting in Seattle if you stay 3.6 years, says Zillow

Buying a home is a better financial decision than renting for Seattle-area homebuyers intending to stay in their home for at least three years and seven months, according to a first quarter analysis from online real estate marketplace Zillow.

Zillow’s breakeven horizon incorporates all possible costs associated with buying and renting, including upfront payments, closing costs, anticipated monthly rent and mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, utilities and maintenance costs. It then factors in historic and anticipated home value appreciation rates, rental prices and rental appreciation rates to help calculate the point, in years, at which buying becomes less expensive than renting.

Among the 30 largest metro areas analyzed by Zillow in the first quarter, those with the shortest breakeven horizon were Miami (2 years), Detroit (2 years) and Phoenix (2.1 years). Large metros with the longest breakeven horizon in the first quarter included New York (5.2 years), Boston (4.1 years) and San Jose (3.7 years). Within metro areas, the breakeven horizon will vary in individual counties, cities, neighborhoods and ZIP codes.

For the first time, the breakeven horizon was applied to the ZIP code and neighborhood levels within individual cities. Because neighborhood selection is such a critical part of the home shopping process, the breakeven tool can be more valuable at these smaller geographic levels.

For example, the breakeven horizon for Seattle as a whole is 3.6 years. But at the neighborhood level, the breakeven horizon ranges from a low of 2.3 years to a high of 4.9 years.

The breakeven horizon is primarily impacted by the expected rate of home value appreciation in a given area. In areas where home values are expected to appreciate more quickly in coming years, the time it takes to recoup upfront costs will be lower and thus the breakeven period will be shorter. In areas where home values are expected to rise more slowly, or even fall, the breakeven horizon will be longer.

Foreclosures rise, but fewer Washington homeowners are behind on mortgages

Nearly 95,700 homeowners in Washington were past due on their home loans or in foreclosure during the first quarter of 2013, down 13 percent from a year ago,according to a mortgage industry survey.

The number of delinquent loans equates to 8.4 percent of all mortgage loans in the state, down from 9.4 percent a year earlier, according to the survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. (There were 1.14 million total home loans as of March 31, 2013, about 25,000 fewer than reflected in the 2012 survey).

The delinquency rate, which includes past-due loans but does not count homes in foreclosure, was also down for the quarter, to 5.5 percent from 7.2 percent the previous year.

Meanwhile, homes in foreclosure rose, to 2.9 percent from 2.2 percent a year ago.

At the end of the first quarter, Washington ranked 36th among U.S. states and the District of Columbia in delinquencies and 22nd in newly filed foreclosures, according to the survey.

Greg Lamm covers banking & finance and law for the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Seattle home prices post year-over-year gain of 9.3 percent

Home prices in the Seattle area climbed 9.3 percent over the 12-month period that ended in February, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

The year-over-year increase is further evidence that the Seattle-area housing market is well on the road to recovery after getting badly battered after the collapse of the nation’s housing bubble.

Seattle’s increase matched that of S&P/Case-Shiller’s 20-city composite index, which also rose 9.3 percent during the 12-month period that ended in February. All 20 cities have now had year-over-year increases for at least two straight months, a statistical event last recorded in 2005.

Seattle Bubble, a residential real estate blog, maintains an interactive graph of the year-over-year change for each of the 20 cities.

Average home prices nationwide are now back to levels last seen in the fall of 2003, S&P/Case-Shiller said in a press release.

In general, however, the nation’s home prices are still well off of the peak in the summer of 2006. The 20-city composite in February was down 30 percent from the peak.

Windermere Metro Report: April 2013

Seattle has nation’s eighth-worst traffic, says Inrix

StaffPuget Sound Business Journal

Seattle’s traffic problems are the eighth-worst in the country, according to a new study by Kirkland-based traffic data company Inrix.

According to the sixth Inrix Traffic Scorecard Annual Report, Seattle drivers spend an average of 35 hours per year stuck in traffic, which is down 10 percent from last year and below the U.S. average of 42 hours stuck in traffic.

Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the U.S. Drivers there spend 59 hours per year stuck in traffic. L.A. is followed by Honolulu and San Francisco.

"In the first three months of this year, traffic congestion is up 4 percent compared to 2012. This suggests that after a tumultuous economic year in 2012, the economy is back on the mend, bringing increased traffic congestion," Inrix said in a statement.

Seattle’s micro-apartment units criticized

StaffPuget Sound Business Journal

The building of tiny, 200-square-foot apartments in Seattle is being criticized by some residents who fear developers are skirting the city’s residential construction rules.

The Seattle Times reports that builders of the tiny apartments, called aPodments, are getting around city rules that count the number of kitchens, and not bed spaces, when developing new complexes.

Because the tiny aPodments use shared kitchens, some projects are avoiding design and environmental reviews, and opponents want a moratorium on the tiny housing.