Washington State is Bucking the West Coast Exodus Trend

Over the last few years, there has been notable news about California's shrinking population. It has been well known that California has had a massive exodus over the last several decades, but recently they have not had enough newcomers to offset those fleeing the state. The Californication of other states is a well known topic of discussion even here in Washington State.

Another less discussed but equally disturbing trend is the fact that Oregon has now seen a statewide population decline. Much of that is likely driven by the mass exodus in Portland, many of whom fled to Southwest Washington. 

But Washington State has continued its impressive population growth. Although Arizona is growing at a faster clip than we are, we are still growing. Seattle is still growing, despite its problems of late. In fact, Seattle for the first time ever, has a larger population than San Francisco. This is a culmination of strong growth in Seattle and San Francisco's rapidly shrinking population.  

So why is Washington State the ONLY west coast state growing? It's the economy. Many people know that California has a strong economy, but on a per capita basis, Washington's is even stronger. California's economy is growing through mostly inflation at this point as businesses are fleeing that state in mass. Meanwhile, in Washington State new business is arriving to our state. Unfortunately the idiots in Olympia are passing laws that look allot like the failed laws that were passed in California and have led to that state's decline. 

Will Washington continue to grow or is the Californication complete? It is hard to say at this point but locally here in Southwest Washington we are likely to remain in a strong growth mode as we siphon off more and more business and people from Portland.

What does all of this mean for real estate? It means, that outside of a major national recession, we should continue to see favorable growth trends and rising property values.