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Why No One Is Building Homes In Washington State Right Now with Ryan Gillis

Anton Stetner

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Why is the Washington housing crisis getting worse when everyone agrees the state needs more homes?
In this episode, Anton sits down with real estate broker and developer Ryan Gillis to break down what’s actually happening behind the scenes of new construction in Washington State. The problem isn’t simply demand. Builders are facing a brutal equation: falling home prices, expensive land, financing costs, lengthy development timelines, rising fees, limited buildable lots, and buyers who increasingly prefer existing homes over new construction. Pasted text
Ryan walks through a real Redmond project where roughly $360,000 in affordable-housing fees changed what the developer could pay for the property—and explains how additional costs can ripple through financing, land values, and ultimately whether a project gets built at all. Pasted text
They also explore one of the biggest contradictions facing the Washington housing crisis: Washington needs more housing, yet experienced builders are questioning whether new projects still make financial sense. The conversation covers starter homes, townhomes, cottages, ADUs, land development, the urban growth boundary, builder margins, affordability, and what buyers actually want.
If you’re a homeowner, investor, developer, real estate professional, or considering buying a home in Washington State, this conversation reveals the economics behind the headlines.
Do you think Washington can make housing affordable again? Drop your take in the comments, and subscribe for more Washington real estate analysis.
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00:00 Why No One Is Building Homes in Washington
02:35 What’s Happening to New Construction Prices?
05:05 Why Builders Can’t Just Lower Their Prices
06:35 The $360K Affordable Housing Fee Problem
09:15 The Hidden Cost of Financing Development
10:07 Is the Builder Profit Margin a Myth?
12:46 Washington Needs 50,000 New Homes a Year
14:24 Why Falling Home Prices Kill New Construction
17:20 Why Experienced Builders Are Quitting
19:39 The First-Time Homebuyer Is Now 40
21:46 Is Washington Becoming a Renter State?
22:19 Washington Has Land—So Why Can’t We Build?
24:27 The Problem With Forced Density
26:05 Why Homes Are So Much Cheaper in Other States
27:22 How Fees and Red Tape Drive Up Home Prices
28:05 Why the “Starter Home” Is Disappearing
30:28 Are We Building Homes Buyers Don’t Want?
32:22 Why Townhomes Are Becoming a Tough Bet
33:43 The Cottage Housing Problem
35:16 What Buyers Actually Want in a Home
36:38 The Death of the Washington Starter Home
37:26 What Happens to Home Prices in 5 Years?
41:12 What Could Actually Improve Washington Housing?
43:33 Opening the Urban Growth Boundary
44:15 Who Really Pays for Roads and Utilities?
48:42 What Washington Homebuyers Actually Want
49:48 When Neighbors Fight New Housing
51:07 A Development Nightmare in Kirkland
56:05 A Costly Land Development Mistake
59:23 Where Developers Are Looking Next
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20 Comments

@AntonStetner Creator 5 days ago (edited) Pinned

Ryan Gillis
Founder / Designated Broker
C: (425) 770-2962
E: ryan@gillisrealestate.com
W: www.gillisrealestate.com
A: 400 112th Ave NE STE400
Bellevue, WA 98004

@SeattleSysop 5 days ago (edited)

Nobody talks about the demand side. Washington is immigration friendly and in 2022 through 2024 it added about 45,000 to 80,000 net new residents from abroad each year. That includes H1B, green cards, parole, TPS, asylum pending, visa overstays, and people here without status. You cannot pile that many households onto a state that already makes new construction almost impossible with fees, the urban growth boundary, and years of permitting. Demand keeps climbing. The supply math does not.

@OldsmobileCutlassSupremeConver 6 hours ago

Please keep voting for Free Stuff!

@tedthomas3727 3 days ago

Great show as always! Keep up the exposure.

@billdunnell2779 3 days ago

At the 21-minute mark, Ryan said that young families want the house with the garage, yard and sense of community. I agree and, in the Ballard, Crown Hill area where I live, they are taking out these same single-family homes and replacing them with town homes or apartments. To me this means that as you reduce the supply of single family homes you automatically drive up the price.

@skyhook1340 4 days ago

Great video!

@mattcoy47 3 days ago

Labor, materials, permitting, and general cost to build is a major issue.

@jayairBofR 5 days ago (edited)

Urban boundries are wonderful for politicians to maintain being in office and increase property taxes at the same time.

I live in Sumner, i have the big yard with the big garden and a nice community. People keep telling me how rare it is and how they want the old style city grid vs the modern housing edition. They want to walk downtown and feel like they are in the town.

@GarageGamere 3 days ago

When the counties wont let you build but let the builders build there's an issue.

@TonyMartin_REI 6 hours ago

Great context shared here!🎯 When you mention idaho, I'm builder in eastern side of WA and going over state line, You can count almost 10/1 new builds in Idaho over WA.

The requirements and expense that WA requires, Drive the cost way higher, buyers and builders can get more just 45 minutes over state line.

Thanks for putting this out there, we need to push this back to less regulated control, costs back down for everyone!

@bluered3228 3 days ago

Wow. I'm stunned. I knew the government was a big part of the problem with the housing market but I had no idea how bad it was. I'm going to be inheriting a home that I was going to rent out but with all the regulations and out of control requirements for landlords, I'm going to sell ASAP. What a mess.

@Shogun35FTW 4 days ago

47:22-47:39. Exactly.

@gregschubert6642 3 days ago

In Lewis County new construction has been very busy. Every rep that I talk with in our industry says we are on an island. Olympia north and castle rock south is very slow, all while the greater Centralia and Chehalis area has had a steady pickup in new construction in both single and multi family.

@TzBurton 4 days ago

I have a house in Vancouver,BC. Single family home divided into a duplex. Family upstairs, room rentals downstairs. Bought for $500k, selling for $1.6M

@digitalphoenix72 2 days ago

I was originally planning on living my life out in Washington State, but in the last 10 years they have made it very apparent that that will not be possible to do so and not be in poverty. I will never buy a home in this state. All we're trying to do now is escape, even though I've been here for over 40 years.

@jones6119 4 days ago

I grew up in Houston and Dallas. This place has no land. That’s the entire problem.

@TheFunkybert 4 days ago

Definitely building and developing more apartments. New “Homes” now in the Seattle metro do not come with a yard or garden.. squeezing as much home into the smaller lot as possible. Undesirable and overpriced.