![\"seattle](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/seattle-single-family-home-market.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Sydney Parker<\/em><\/p>\nThe Seattle housing market is heating up. But is it hot enough to melt the Seattle Freeze<\/a>? According to a press release <\/a>issued today, Seattle beat out 50 other American housing markets to earn the number one spot on Auction.com\u2019s Top Single-Family Housing Markets Report for Fall 2015.<\/p>\n With the expansion of tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook in the Seattle metro area, employment growth in the information sector has reached an all-time high (nearly 95,000) with 2.8 percent year-over-year growth as of July. The new jobs are attracting new residents. Affluent residents.<\/p>\n According to Auction.com, prices jumped 4.4 percent over the last quarter and 10.9 percent year-over-year. Home sales grew 12.6 percent from a year ago, but remain below their prior peak. Seattle single-family housing is still in the \u201caffordable\u201d range despite the run up in prices, according to the site\u2019s Research\u2019s Housing Affordability Index.<\/p>\n \u201cHigh demand has pushed affordability down from its 2012 peak levels, and closer to unaffordable territory than all but eight of our top 50 covered metro areas, with an index reading of 125.2,\u201d writes Auction.com in a September 2015 article<\/a>.<\/p>\n The median sale price of a single-family home in Seattle in September was $571,000, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. In King County, it was $490,250.<\/p>\n Affordable housing is a hot button issue in Seattle. On September 1st, 2015, after contentious negotiations with developers, Mayor Ed Murray introduced new legislation to make Seattle housing affordable. The legislation is referred to as the \u201cGrand Bargain<\/a>\u201d between affordable housing advocates and real estate developers. The plan originally included a single-family zoning initiative<\/a>, but that part of the bargain was revoked<\/a> after it came under intense public criticism.<\/p>\n As the temperature of the Seattle housing market continues to rise, will locals warm up to the influx of newcomers? Probably not. But we\u2019re still number one.<\/p>\n The Auction.com ranking is based on “rising home prices, favorable affordability and strong housing demand, combined with strong economic and demographic conditions.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":137876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11269],"tags":[],"coauthors":[8840],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>The site bases its rankings on \u201crising home prices, favorable affordability and strong housing demand, combined with strong economic and demographic conditions that point to future demand.\u201d Seattle\u2019s single-family market is rapidly expanding. Seasonally adjusted home prices have surpassed the previous record high set in 2007, according to Auction.com.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n