In parts of the West, housing is still hot

Here's an article out of Indianapolis, plugging the West's still-hot housing market, and in particular Wenatchee.

In parts of the West, housing is still hot
By Aaron Clark Associated Press

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070722/BUSINESS/707220309/1003/BUSINESS

The Wenatchee excerpt reads:

"The Pacific Northwest was a little bit late coming to the party," said Andrew Leventis, an economist with a federal housing agency. "The extreme appreciation over the past five or six years in the country only just began in the Northwest a few years ago." In Wenatchee, Wash., a 30,000-resident town east of the Cascade Mountains, homes appreciated an average of 25 percent from the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007, according to a study by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. The agency tracks average home appreciation for mortgages and refinancings not greater than $417,000 on single-family properties. Bob Seltzer, a real estate agent, said the boom there is being fueled by an influx of retirees from rain-plagued Seattle who are looking for warmer weather. "The economy here does not support high-paying jobs," said Seltzer. But "people can come from Seattle and buy an equivalent house for half the price.""