Deals
Seattle’s Tech Boom Is Driving Up Housing Prices
A $2.5 million contemporary home in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle. Photographer: Hui-yong Yu/Bloomberg
Retired baseball pitcher Jamie Moyer sold his seven-bedroom Tudor mansion in Seattle, complete with a batting cage and saltwater pool, to a Chinese couple for $3.2 million in September. The new owners promptly rented it out to a group of Amazon.com Inc. employees.
Seattle has become the latest West Coast hot spot for homebuyers, from Chinese emigrees to technology workers, sending home prices to a record in an area renowned for its clean air, mountain ranges and lakes. Surging demand is combining with limited supply to boost values, squeezing affordability.