By Margo Greenman, 425 Business

With inventory down 25 percent, home values and rents both increasing, and more people moving to the region, the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties said the local housing market is struggling with a housing affordability crisis.

"Despite efforts to add more housing, including a rise in apartment home construction in the region, the demand for housing has significantly outpaced supply," Master Builders Association executive director Shannon Affholter said in a press release. "Lack of buildable land and other barriers to new home construction have contributed significantly to escalating housing costs and a housing supply shortage in King and Snohomish counties. Unfortunately, this is making it harder for families and workers to find attainable housing near job centers."

This week, Shannon and MBAKS President Mike Walsh take a break from building a wheelchair ramp to talk about the importance of Rampathon.

Learn more about our community stewardship

Wondering who has it best in Western Washington and the Pacific Northwest? Look no further than our phenomenal membership base. 

Every year, Seattle Business magazine puts out their list of the 100 best companies to work for, based on anonymous employee survey responses as picked from 10 categories: corporate culture, executive leadership, benefits, communication, hiring/retention, performance standards, responsibility/decision making, rewards/recognition, training/education, and workplace environment. 

Response scores are then calculated and averaged out, and companies ranked in four categories: small, midsize, large, and those headquartered outside Washington state. 

Which employees are smiling away at their standup desks flanked by exotic popcorn machines and flashy breakroom games where they can count their 401Ks? We’re proud to announce that 21 MBAKS member companies made the grade for 2018. Full disclosure, we were a little perturbed Seattle Business magazine didn’t expand the list to 3,000 and put all our awesome members on the list, but there’s always next year. 

Check out the extensive list of member companies that raised the bar in 2018. 

Large Companies (150+ Employees)

• Bob’s Heating & Air Conditioning
• Clark Nuber
• Edward Jones
• Evergreen Home Loans
• Exxel Pacific
• Redfin
• Sequoya Electric
• Valley Electric
• Zillow Group

Midsize Companies (50–149 Employees) 

• American Income Life
• Andersen Construction
• Berntson Porter & Company
• Gravity Payments
• Pacific Capital Resource Group
• Pillar Properties 
• Sweeney Conrad

Small Companies (15–49 Employees) 

• Board & Vellum
• Carlisle Classic Homes
• Chermak Construction
• Kalles Group
• Pacific Crest Savings Bank

Congratulations to all 21 of our member companies for going above and beyond! 
See the entire list at seattlebusinessmag.com