To buy or not to buy? That is the question.CNNMoney.com reports today that if you’re in the market for a lifetime’s worth of debt, Seattle is a great place to live. The Emerald City placed second behind only San Francisco in a list of cities most likely to see their home values increase by 2011. According to forecasters polled by the cable-news giant, that means a 3.8% jump thanks to our “better than average” job market. A welcome softening of the 15% free fall housing values have taken since the bottom fell out. And a seriously delusional load of crap if you’re to believe the lovable cranks over at real-estate blog Seattle Bubble.In a post entitled Home Prices Going Down in 2010?, Seattle Bubble’s Tim Ellis points to the predictions of three market watchers who say that national housing prices will go down 5-10% next year alone. A drop that Ellis says will correspond to a 10-15% fall for Seattle-area homes.So who to believe? Considering CNNMoney’s sunny estimates were partially based on Seattle’s relatively low unemployment rate of 8.8%, a figure that has since jumped half a point, it’d probably be better for all prospective home buyers if they listened to the Chicken Littles on this one.
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