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Home-buying frenzy in Seattle driving up prices

Demand from Chinese emigrees and technology workers is sending home prices to a record, with pending home sales rising 16 per cent last month to the highest in a decade

Published Thu, Jul 9, 2015 · 09:50 PM
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Seattle

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 US$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.

"We will be like San Francisco in five years," sai…

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