They arent making any more land?

[ayles]

According the paper today we have plenty!

Poking more holes in one of the often mentioned reasons for sustained price increases.

King County can handle more growth, report says
Region has plenty of land for new development
P-I STAFF

King County has plenty of land for new homes and businesses to accommodate projected growth for the next 15 years, according to a report released Thursday.

The state Growth Management Act requires reports every five years to ensure that cities and towns in Western Washington's most populous counties have enough developable land to accommodate growth projected in their comprehensive plans.

According to the report, King County cities and towns grew slightly faster than projected from 2001 through 2005 and still had enough capacity for twice as many households as remain in the projection for growth through 2022.

In fact -- thanks to rezoning, denser construction and increasing potential for redevelopment -- there was more capacity at the end of the five years, despite development of 5,000 acres during that time.

Countywide development over the five years was about evenly split between houses and multifamily units (apartments and condos), with single-family density in recent developments up 34 percent from 2002 and multifamily density up 72 percent.

Commercial and industrial construction remained robust, with 28 million square feet of new buildings, despite the recession from 2001 to 2004, during which the county lost 70,000 jobs.

[The Tim]

I've actually got a post already written up on this one. It's scheduled to show up on the site at 10:00.