That seems to be the case in Seattle.

Apartments in the city center are desperate to sign leases. But houses are actually a little more expensive this year, and they sell within a few days of hitting the market.

And it make sense. New urbanism is dead at the moment: parks, cafes, and theaters are closed. There are no events. Nobody wants to take transit. But in single family neighborhoods, life is basically normal. Not to mention there is no traffic and gas is dirt cheap.

For what it's worth, I recently moved apartments in downtown Seattle and the there's little in the way of downward price movement... yet. I shopped around at most of the buildings down here (2BR prices) and didn't find too much in the way of desperation, but this is all anecdotal I suppose.

We stayed downtown for my wife who supposedly would be "back in the office" later this year (she doesn't drive), but I really wish I had gone with my gut and pushed for us to move further out. There is absolutely no benefit to being in Seattle proper right now, and it would not surprise me to see more people leave (I've considered just becoming rent-responsible on the lease and eating the cost, it's annoying me to death).

(If you're talking about anywhere near Cap Hill, nobody wants to sign a lease there after they tear gassed the entire neighborhood a few weeks ago)

Also because, you know, a goodly chunk of Seattle was ransacked, covered with graffiti, riddled with gunfire, responsible for at least 5 shootings in a month, looted, boarded up, and deprived of any protection at all.

This is needlessly dismissive of why those events occurred to begin with. SPD themselves (as evidenced by numerous videos) caused more than enough of the anguish and problems, and Durkan's actions speak for themselves.

There are many reasons to not want to be in Seattle right now, but casting it as a warzone without "protection" (from the very aggressors themselves) is a bit much.

What about the rampant homeless and drug use problems that predated all of this?

I see people bring this up all the time for Seattle. However... I've literally lived in the radius of the oft-demonized stretch of 3rd and Pike/Pine for the past 2-3 years.

I can assure you that while it's bad, they generally don't bother people and simply need a system that actually helps them. More police won't solve anything here - I'm confident in this statement as they sit outside my window daily and do absolutely nothing as it is.

You must live on a high floor. The homeless outside my window are annoyingly noisy. Too often they wake me up at night or scare my dog when I'm out walking. I'm tired of spotting needles in the bushes and I'm worried someday I or my dog will step on one without a cap. The other day, I watched one guy threaten another with a knife.

Call me callous, but I'd like to build drugs-allowed shelters so that they leave the streets.

I live pretty close to street level, actually - sometimes people on the corner by the Kress are playing music too loud, but this is a city: you're going to hear some noise.

I walk two dogs here a few times daily and while the litter has been worse post-COVID, it wasn't always this bad due to the city cleaners.

In general I agree with your shelters idea, Seattle does not do nearly enough to help these people.

Without knowing what part of Seattle you're specifically referring to I can't really explain more. If you're referring to Pioneer Square... well, I won't fight you on that one - that area needs help.

Low interest rate is driving house deals these days.

Where I live, it is _noticeably_ cheaper to buy a house in a suburb 20 minutes away from the city center, than renting an apartment half the size, that would cut such car trip by 10 minutes. Given the current situation, it's a no brainer.

It's not hard to sell. There are so many buyers out there right now. In Chicago houses are on the market 3 days tops. Hearing similar from other cities.

Same in Providence. We are house shopping right now and the market is very hot -- so hot that I'm considering stopping our search altogether on the theory that it might be better to wait and see what happens over the coming months.

I remember reading an article that said, while people who want to buy really want to buy, many of the sellers have gotten cold feet. When people imagined that the market would dry up and property values would go down because of the epidemic, they weren't thinking about the asymmetry.

I think this is right. It's called supply and demand. Both parts matter.