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County housing analyst tells Mountlake Terrace officials: required income to buy median home now about $194,000
Summary
Chris Collier of the Alliance for Housing Affordability told the council that a rise in prices and interest rates has pushed the required income to buy a median single‑family home in Snohomish County to about $194,000, that rental production has fallen, and that many lower‑income renters are cost‑burdened.
Chris Collier, program manager for the Alliance for Housing Affordability, told the Mountlake Terrace City Council that rising prices and mortgage rates have pushed the required household income to afford a median single‑family home in Snohomish County to about $194,000.
“The required income for that median house … is now $194,000,” Collier said during a data‑heavy presentation on county and city housing trends. He showed a multi‑year series indicating that home prices and required incomes have diverged from median household income, and that apartment construction that reduced vacancies in 2018–2022 is now slowing.
Collier said the county’s median single‑family sale price (adjusted for inflation) rose from roughly $362,000 at an earlier point in the series to more than $820,000 by 2024, and that household incomes have not kept pace. He also showed a rental survey suggesting advertised rents in Mountlake Terrace rose faster than the county average in the most recent months and said he expects rents to resume rising in 2025 as new apartment vacancy is absorbed.
Collier presented Mountlake Terrace‑specific data showing the city’s housing stock is older (many units date to 1940s–1970s), that single‑family construction largely ended by the 1980s and recent ownership production is largely redevelopment, and that manufacturing and condo production that once existed has declined.
On housing assistance, Collier said there are approximately 6,000 households in Snohomish County using HUD‑funded housing vouchers: roughly 4,300 in the Housing Authority of Snohomish County portfolio and about 2,000 managed by Everett’s housing authority. He warned the council that those programs and vouchers are an important safety net for seniors, disabled residents and veterans.
Council members described the presentation as sobering and discussed the need for local policy interventions to increase supply and preserve affordability. Council member Ryan said the presentation was “a lot of information and it’s like, wow,” and other members urged more local outreach and planning work tied to the city’s comprehensive plan.
Collier said county and statewide policy changes — including comprehensive plan revisions and House Bill 1110 implementation — may affect future production but that national and financial factors (interest rates, construction costs, labor availability) will also shape outcomes. He offered to provide city‑level data and to return with more analysis.
The presentation was informational; no ordinance or new program was proposed at the meeting.
