Cascade Built Blog

July 9, 2008

High gas prices bad for suburbs…

Posted by admin, 5:10 AM

This article appeared in the Seattle Times yesterday July 7th 2008. It is about gas prices and how they change the economics of where people live – at $4 a gallon, it really starts to change behavior of home buyers, and at $10 a gallon it will be much more pronounced as even those who greatly dislike city living will be forced to move closer to work. It probably won’t lead to the alarmist predictions of “The End of Suburbia” (a movie), but it’s hard to say. We really have no idea how it’s going to affect our daily lives, as we haven’t yet completed the economic cycle with $4 gas, so the ripples can take a while to percolate out through supply chains and even within companies. The changes will be dramatic as they play out.

Will Gas Prices Drive Homebuyers away from Suburbs?
(read the article here)

As gas prices climb, homebuyers increasingly will choose to live closer to work, and that eventually will depress suburban home prices while strengthening in-city values, a Portland economist predicts.

By Elizabeth Rhodes

Seattle Times business reporter

The price of gas is starting to affect homebuying decisions for people like David Underwood. He and his partner, Kali Kuwada, were commuting from Kirkland but are now buying a North Seattle town home, seen behind him.

As he gassed up his 2002 Honda Civic recently, David Underwood found himself at the intersection of two priorities: transportation costs and housing. Paying $53 for a tank of gas to commute from his Kirkland rental condo to his Seattle job, Underwood realized that price set a “personal best” he’d rather not repeat.

That’s why after much discussion, he and his partner, Kali Kuwada, decided to buy their first home in Seattle, as close to their jobs as possible.” We found ourselves……

….. read article here

-Sloan-
developer of Cascade Built homes

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