With a mild climate and an incredibly strong economy, it is no wonder those already residing in a zip in Seattle feel no need to leave. But what about people thinking about selling their Oshawa homes and taking advantage of all that our Pacific Northwest city has to offer? What can they expect on the housing market, in terms of typical home prices and rentals?

Well, if you are counting on the low prices of American real estate you have been hearing about on the news, you might be in for a bit of a surprise. On the whole, Seattle's home prices are not too different than what you might expect on the market for real estate, Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal. Seattle is a big city with a lot of opportunity, and housing prices certainly reflect that.

One just needs to look at the average listing price in Seattle to see what we mean. It sits at an incredible $621,000, even in the middle of a nationwide real estate depression! At this point, those of you with North York condos may be thinking about just forgetting about the whole plan and staying put.

However, you do need to keep in mind that average prices can be thrown right out of whack be the presence of a significantly rich community, which is certainly the case in Seattle. In our city, that community resides on Bainbridge Island, one of the most picturesque locations in the entire northwest. Houses on Bainbridge are owned by the wealthy and the long term resident, and the appeal of the Island as a haven from the mainland city continues to cause prices to rise. You won't find many homes here under $750,000, which of course is well beyond the purchasing power of the typical home owner.

So, throw Bainbridge out of the equation, and you end up with a housing market which is much more comparable to Oakville Ontario real estate markets and those in other international cities. How affordable that really is for the average family, of course, is still up for questioning.

There is more good news. Asking prices largely reflect the hope of the home owner. A look at what the average homes in Seattle are actually selling for reveals an entirely different picture. Those houses on sale on the Island are still listed expensively, but they are not actually selling. Average sales prices in Seattle are selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than the listing prices, when the owners are willing to negotiate. That Bainbridge Island market, for example, has an average sale price of $360,000, or HALF of what the average asking price is. That reveals a lot to the potential home buyer!

Of course, a glut of homes that are too expensive to sell is good news for the person looking to rent in Seattle too. You will find home rentals here much lower than those on the Mississauga Ontario real estate market or almost anywhere else.