Seattle Bubble has the story in all its depressing details: King County foreclosures up 180 percent year-over-year. more ›

Yesterday the Seattle Times reprinted a New York Times article on the "third wave" of foreclosures--foreclosures on people who had good credit and reasonable mortgages, but who have fallen behind due to job loss or pay or hours reduction. The first wave came when flippers and speculators got caught by plunging real-estate prices, and wave number two arrived when option-ARM mortgages reset at higher rates. Foreclosures are terrible for the value of surrounding homes. In Seattle, says the PSBJ, the "average price of a Seattle home dropped 16.4 percent in March from a year earlier, which is moving closer to the national average decline of 18.7 percent." more ›

Nationally, existing home sales fell by 8.6 percent in November, says the P-I. Troublingly, "sales of distressed properties made up 45 percent of all property sales in November." But here's the kicker for local home shoppers and sellers: "Sales of existing homes in the Seattle area were down nearly 37 percent in November from October and 45 percent from November 2007." Seattle Bubble reports that in King County, the existing inventory of homes on the market, selling at the current rate, would take nine months to work through. They also have a cool graphic that breaks the inventory down for you. more ›