Seattle Is Becoming America’s 7th ‘Legacy City’

Forbes | Scott Beyer | August 31

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottbeyer/2017/08/31/seattle-is-becoming-americas-7th-legacy-city/

“The main cause of Seattle’s urban evolution is, first and foremost, that people want to live there. The city has had a strong economy since the 1980s, with the rise of Microsoft…More than other West Coast tech hubs, though, Seattle builds to accommodate this inward flow of jobs and employees. According to Census data, the Seattle metro area has had, since 2010, roughly double the housing construction as San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward.”

Seattle Adds New Protected Bike Lanes Downtown

KOMO News | Matt Markovich | August 31

http://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-adds-new-bike-lanes-downtown

“Seattle is about to add two protected bike lanes on two of the busiest downtown streets. Starting in September, six blocks of Pike Street and Pine Street between 2nd Avenue and 8th Avenue will be changing. The Department of Transportation said the streets will be reorganized to allow biking on the left hand side, separated by barriers from general car traffic and transit. Traffic signals will be upgraded with bike signals and some left-hand turns restricted to reduce conflicts at key intersections.”

Lean Inventory Drives Home-Price Gain in 20 U.S. Cities

Bloomberg | Sho Chandra | August 29

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-29/gain-in-home-prices-in-20-u-s-cities-reflects-lean-inventory

“A persistent inventory shortage for previously-owned homes is keeping prices elevated at a time housing demand is being sustained by a strong job market and still-low mortgage rates. In the past few years, growth in property values has consistently outpaced wage gains and is holding back potential new entrants to the housing market. Home prices in all 20 major cities increased from a year earlier and all but six posted month-over-month gains, the report showed…Seattle led the way in year-over-year price gains with a 13.4 percent increase followed by Portland, Oregon, at 8.2 percent”

Glassdoor: Seattle Pay Up, Mostly in Retail, Related Jobs

Seattle PI | Daniel DeMay | August 29

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Glassdoor-Seattle-pay-up-mostly-in-retail-12158960.php

“Booming Seattle saw wages grow again in August, up another 2.1 percent over a year before bringing the median base pay to $60,487. Most of the jobs seeing the largest bump in pay were those supporting retail industries, where median pay is low, according to Glassdoor’s August Local Pay Report, which includes the Seattle metro region…The retail industry had 614,000 job openings on Glassdoor, and wage increases were likely driven up by anticipation of the coming holiday season, when hiring will surge. Seattle pay is significantly higher than national median pay, which grew 2 percent year over year in August to $51,556.”