Wood Partners starts on first Seattle building
May 30, 2011 by Sofia Camfield · Leave a Comment
A depiction of the 91-unit apartment building that developer Wood Partners started building on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 8606 35th Ave. N.W., in Seattle’s Wedgwood neighborhood. (Wood Partners)
Nationwide multifamily developer Wood Partners broke ground on its first Seattle project Tuesday, nearly six months after opening a local office. The project is a 91-unit, four-story apartment building at 8606 35th Ave. N.W. in the Wedgwood neighborhood.
Tough mortgage criteria must remain says thinktank
May 28, 2011 by Isabelle Bolliger · Leave a Comment
Banks should keep their tough mortgage lending criteria in place to help prevent another house price bubble building up in the future, a thinktank said today.
Mortgages should be capped at 90% of a property’s value, while people should also be prevented from borrowing more than 3.5 times their income, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
The group said the UK had had four housing bubbles in the past 40 years, with these causing widespread damage to the economy.
It blamed the most recent house price boom, which saw property values treble between 1996 and 2006, on loose mortgage lending, pointing out that before the credit crunch the UK had the highest average loan-to-value ratio out of all OECD countries, apart from the Netherlands.
Seattle’s most-famous bubble blogger buys a home
May 27, 2011 by Sofia Camfield · Leave a Comment
Tim Ellis, perhaps Seattles most-famous proponent of the argument that the Seattle areas housing market overheated with the rest of the country during the housing bubble, just bought a home in Everett.
Feel free to use this thread to comment on what an idiot and a sellout I am, or whatever other sentiment you are inclined to share, Ellis, also known as The Tim, wrote on his blog, Seattle Bubble. I fully expect this decision to be picked to pieces by all of you that frequent these pages with your clever minds and quick wits, so please ask me anything you’re dying to know.
The Best Home Affordability in a Generation Isn’t Helping the Housing Market
May 21, 2011 by Isabelle Bolliger · Leave a Comment
Recent housing data released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the Commerce Department points to a weak housing market that will continue to be weak in 2011 and into 2012. Consumers haven’t responded to mortgage rates that are near record lows and housing is more affordable than it has been in a generation. Current conforming 30 year mortgage rates are averaging 4.71% as reported by MonitorBankRates.com. (continued below) Your browser does not support IFrames, check out monitorbankrates.com/mortgages for current mortgage rates. Find today’s mortgage rates and refinance rates by searching our rate tables at MortgageRates.MonitorBankRates.com. No Continue reading…
Seattle projects win design awards
May 18, 2011 by Sofia Camfield · Leave a Comment
An image from the gu vision for Seattle.
Imagine Seattle with bubble wrapped buildings and wildlife feeding on grass growing in the street.
That vision, called [gu] (Growing Urbanism), won an Images that Provoke Award last month in the International Living Future Institutes Living City Design Competition.
And, last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it and the American Institute of Architects had chosen three affordable-housing projects, including one in Seattle, for the HUD Secretary’s Housing and Community Design Award for excellence in residential housing design.
Gundula Proksch, a member of zeroplus architects and assistant professor of architecture at the University of Washington, led the [gu] team, which included Joshua Brevoort, Lisa Chun and Lucky Lanphere from zeroplus, Lauren McCunney from the the University of Washington and Cameron Hall from STAVE studio.
The Seattle of 25 years from now redefines the relationship between the built environment an the natural world, according to the project. T