Seattle Housing Market Still Tops Chart As Nation’s Hottest

Home prices continued to climb in Seattle and Portland at some of the fastest rates in the country this year. The latest data show Seattle is still the nation’s hottest market.

According to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the price of a typical single family home in Seattle rose twice as fast as the national average this year—nearly 12 percent. In Portland, home prices increased more than 6.5 percent.

David Blitzer is with S&P Global, which oversees the index. He said migration to Seattle and Portland and economic growth are pushing up prices.

“Both cities, but particularly Seattle, have strong economies,” Blitzer said. “The Seattle area is benefiting from a lot of technology development, as well as, I guess, more traditional industry.”

Housing prices rose particularly fast in the West. Las Vegas, Nevada, was the second hottest market, after Seattle. And many cities in California also saw high growth.

Blitzer said he expects interest rates to rise next year and the national housing market to cool.

Seattle real estate agent Sol Villarreal said rising prices come from a combination of factors that cause high demand and low supply, such as rapid migration to the region and not enough condominium construction in Seattle.

“You’re not building enough new units, people are afraid to sell their existing units, so every year the supply-demand imbalance gets a little bit worse,” he said. “We have more buyers into the system and fewer people want to sell their places if they have any option to stay there because they’re afraid of what the market is going to be.”