How coronavirus could make Bellingham a new Seattle suburb

"Folks that are more typical renters have seen much more financial impact from COVID-19 than people who are buying homes," said James McCafferty, co-director of Western Washington University's Center for Economic and Business Research. "That's one of the reasons the home market has remained fairly strong through this experience." 

McCafferty's co-director, Hart Hodges, said the coronavirus could actually start pushing prices even further up, as the fallout from COVID-19 pushes employees further out of Seattle — possibly even creating a new, much more affordable, suburb 90 miles to the north.

"If you work in a tech company downtown and somebody said you now only have to commute 2 days a week and you can work from home the rest of the time, that changes the definition of a suburb or a bedroom community of Seattle."