BIAW Bulletin: April 5, 2021

April 5, 2021

Welcome to another installment of the Hammer with Himebaugh – one of these days I’m just going to stop mentioning that they won’t let me call it that and insist on it being named the BIAW bulletin – which is lame and not fun.

It feels like the legislature is hitting the home stretch – which is great because baseball is back and that is far more fun to watch. There are 20 days left – – at this point both chambers have passed their initial budget offerings – the state will be relying on a capital gains income tax and the buckets of money from the federal government to expand the reach and breadth of government, which is concerning because that federal money is sort of a one time deal – and creating programs in perpetuity means once those federal dollars are gone they will have to find the money somewhere else – as you know there’s nothing certain in life except death, taxes and government-created programs never-ending.

The other hot issues that are popping – significant labor issues are still lurking – including some squirrelly last-minute retro program changes and taxes – capital gains income tax, and environmental/carbon conversations including a cap and trade or cap and tax and maybe low carbon fuel standard and other broad-reaching land use and regulatory expansions  — all these things will continue to add pressure to Washington’s already tight housing market and further price people out of access to homeownership.

 

In Washington, the median new home price is already over $522,000.

• The Seattle/Tacoma metro is 542k.
• Spokane 411k.
• Vancouver/Portland is $458k.
• Olympia 406K.
• Bellingham 428k.
• Tricities 445k.

As always BIAW’s team will continue to work hard as we head into the next weeks of floor action.

Homes start here.

Himebaugh out.