Moon, Durkan Spar Over Foreign Real Estate Speculation In Seattle

SEATTLE, WA - Mayoral candidates Cary Moon and Jenny Durkan had their first open spat Tuesday over an extremely important topic: how to control the out-of-control housing costs in Seattle. Moon favors a tax on investors who "park" money in Seattle homes, which drives up costs for locals. Durkan has alleged that the idea is pseudo-racist because it, in part, would affect foreign investors, from China in particular.

The two candidates sparred via emailed statements after a Seattle Times story exploring the speculation-tax idea came out Tuesday. Both the King County Assessor and the Seattle City Attorney have ruled such a tax illegal, anyway.

“Jenny believes strongly that taxes, penalties and bans based on nationality are wrong and illegal,” Durkan spokeswoman Stephanie Formas told the Seattle Times. “Changing the name to ‘non-resident’ does not change the fact that this started as anti-Chinese buyer tax. Seattle has a dark history of discrimination against people of Asian descent, such as the Chinese Exclusion laws and the mass internment of Japanese. We cannot go there - particularly in the age of Trump.”

That incited Moon to release a statement defending the non-resident tax.

"Attacking the search for solutions and defending the status quo is putting the interests of money over the well being of people. Defending the status quo means more working people, people of color, LGBTQ people, young families and seniors will be pushed out of our city. That is not who we are. We must stay open and welcoming to all, including immigrants and refugees from around the world," Moon said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Durkan responded in her own statement a short time later:

"There's no doubt that the defining issue for the next mayor is the affordability crisis, which is why I have proposed specific solutions to address the issue. However, creating government databases based on national origin and imposing taxes on foreign investors is illegal, contrary to our progressive values, and wrong. It is also not a real solution. It's unfortunate that Cary Moon is doubling down on her plans, which officials across Seattle are rejecting because of concerns that it's discriminatory and illegal."

Moon co-wrote a series of editorials in The Stranger published last summer warning about speculation, whether from domestic or foreign buyers. Speculation not only drives up housing costs, Moon argued, but many investors leave their real estate assets literally empty. In Vancouver, B.C., which has instituted a speculation tax, the city saw brand-new residential towers stay dark at night because a majority of units were purchased by people living outside the city.

"These buyers don’t care much about purchase price; they just want to turn that cash into a real physical asset—preferably in a reliable, stable housing market—as quickly as they can, before it evaporates. This hot money has already wreaked havoc on housing prices in several of the world’s great cities: London, Miami, New York, Sydney, and Vancouver," Moon wrote along with The Stranger's Charles Mudede.

According to the Northwest Mutiple Listing Service, the median home price in King County is up 18.6 percent over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, the median home price in Seattle in July was $748,500.

Image via Realtor.com