Matthew Gardner, Housing Economist

How changes to the Commerce Department Disclosure Rules could impact the housing market.

Every real estate market update repeats the same four inputs: rates, jobs, inflation, demographics. That's not wrong, it's just incomplete. The interesting part isn't that these forces exist — it's how unevenly they're hitting different markets right now, Seattle included. Rates Still Run the Show, But Not the Way People Assume Near-zero rates in 2020 did exactly what you'd expect: monthly payments dropped, buyers piled in, and prices ran ahead of incomes almost everywhere. T

The Commerce Department has rewritten the rules on how the Census Bureau and BEA protect confidential data

The combined H.R. 6644 (Housing for the 21st Century Act) and the Senate's ROAD to Housing Act became law on July 11, 2026. Incorporating provisions from over 60 other pieces of legislation, it has been described by some as the first comprehensive federal housing package in decades. Given this rather bold statement, I thought it was worthwhile to take a look at some of the key provisions in the bill and offer my opinions as to whether it really has the potential to solve the

It feels to me that 2023 was the year that elected officials here in the state of Washington started to really take the housing affordability crisis seriously. I say this as it was the year when a significant number of legislative policies were put forward seeking to address this remarkably important issue. Of course, not all proposals bought up for consideration made it to the Governor’s desk for signature. Notable failures included a bill that looked to legalize lot-splitti