According to the Washington Association of REALTORS, the Washington real estate market is a stable and responsible marketplace for home buyers.

The foreclosure rates today are the same as they were 10 years ago. Fewer than one percent of mortgages end in default in Washington state. As of Mid-June, sub-prime, adjustable-rate loans represented 20 percent of loans nationally, but just 6 percent of home loans in Washington.

According to the Washington State University Center for Real Estate Research (CRER), home appreciation in Washington continues to out-perform the rest of the nation with year-to-year price increases in every quarter since the spring of 1995. Home prices in Washington have increased an average of 8.1 percent since the same time last year. The demand for median-priced homes has never been greater.

The home market in Washington isn't keeping pace with the growth of the state's population, which is continuing to increase at 1.8 percent per year. According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management, the state's population will increase by nearly one million over the present decade and reach 6.8 million by 2010. About two thirds of the growth is due to in-migration; the rest is a result of the growth of families now living in Washington.

The housing squeez is forcing some families to take on more debt than they should. Others compensate by accepting longer commutes than they want. Neither is a good situation. We need to provide a variety of home choices to meet changing market demands.

The key to stability in the residential real estate market is balance, where balance is about a six month supply of homes available on the market at any given time.

On the September 26th broadcast of the Today Show, Jim Cramer from Mad Money told Meredith Viera "Don't you dare buy now… you will lose money". Realtor Associations across the country then demanded that NBC instruct Cramer to correct his statement.

The next morning on CNBC's Squak on the Street, Cramer was asked if he would like to correct his statements on the Today Show… his only correction was that Seattle is still a good place to buy homes. If you'd like to see the video of Cramer's correct and statement, check out the video by following this link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=533257614.

I am sure you are tired of listening to the doom and gloom of the national media. What is going on in Florida, southern California and other parts of the country does not represent the market in Washington.

Gary Keller is the founder of Keller Williams. His take on national real estate market reporting is this, "Residential real estate is not a national market product - it is a local one. To say from a national position that this is either a good time or a bad time to buy real estate is like saying the national forecast for the U.S. today is 92 degrees - it is a useless and irrelevant perspective. What is happening in your local market is all that matters."

On that note, I can't speak for the problems other parts of the nation are experiencing but this post is intended to help show the strength and stability of the Washington housing market specifically.

David Edwards
REALTOR®
Keller Williams Realty Southeast Sound
Phone: 425-890-8045
E-Mail: david@davidjedwards.com
Website: http://www.davidjedwards.com
Blogsite: http://www.davidjedwards.com/renton-info-blog.asp

David J Edwards is a full time real estate agent and REALTOR® with Keller Williams Realty specializing in Residential Real Estate for buyers and sellers in Washington's Renton Highlands, Newcastle and South Bellevue.