Job growth and inward migration are two key factors we often look to when measuring the strength of our housing market. So, where are we in the big picture?

Recently the Bureau of Labor Statistics released their 2017 report of The Fastest Cities for Job Growth in 2017. While Seattle Metro settles in at #11 for year-over-year change, it’s #3 when you look at areas cracking 2M jobs. When combined with Seattle’s 1.9% wage growth, up over the national average of 1%, we can see the pretty, pretty picture.

So which jobs saw the biggest change in growth over the last year? Surprisingly, “the growth is spread across the spectrum,” according to the PI who recently released an article showing the 10 biggest winners and losers. In other words, it’s not just in one industry (like tech) influenced, which should make you feel good about regional stability.

Last week the Seattle City Council passed new parking reforms in an effort to reduce in-city traffic and carbon emissions. Under the past requirement, a developer did not have to include off-street parking in areas deemed to have “Frequent Transit Service”. The definition of what this means has been updated so now even more areas are included.

In addition, landlords can now offer their unused parking “unbundled” from a unit to people who aren’t tenants or work within the building. This should help to balance the parking oversupply and demand, in theory.

Chart  provided by Kiro 7

The number of spots per unit has already been steadily dropping from an average of 1.5 parking spots per new unit in 2004 to 0.6 last year, so the move is not too shocking. It will be interesting to see how the developers react to this new change.

Over here at TeamBuilder worldwide headquarters, we’re not sure what this entirely means. I can hear Hurme yelling from his office about the Law of Unintended Consequences. Affordability is an issue, for sure, and I don’t think this action solves it in any real substantiative way. Easing restrictions on zoning and repealing the Growth (un)Management Act – I can get behind that.