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The bullet speed (around 700fps) is considerably less than most pellet rifles and at 29 gr is probably about the same weight as most pellets but I don't know that for sure. ... If I thought (as many of you do) a pellet rifle was safer I would get one but it just isn't so.
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There's a HUGE difference between even a light-loaded .22 rimfire round and a powerful conventional pellet gun with a conventional pellet.
A typical .177 pellet is 11 grains or so as opposed to a very light .22 bullet which would probably weigh about 30 grains. In addition, conventional "hourglass" airgun pellets are inefficient projectiles due to their very poor aerodynamics compared to bullets and therefore are typically considered safe after only about 400 yards of downrange travel as opposed to what might be over a mile for a .22LR bullet.
Airgun pellets tend to be very fragile and if they ricochet, they are typically badly damaged in the process of bouncing off the ricochet-inducing surface. That means they won't fly nearly as far or be nearly as dangerous after a ricochet when compared to a more conventionally shaped bullet. .22 rimfires, by the way, are notorious for being ricochet prone.
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I'm guessing most pellet guns can do better than that.
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I doubt it. Even at close ranges, the shape, construction and light weight of airgun pellets makes them very poor penetrators, which dramatically decreases the chances of them shooting through a wall, or even windows. I have seen a pellet from a .177 airgun hit a sliding glass door only about 5 feet from the muzzle and not only fail to penetrate, but fail to do any damage at all. The soft lead pellet flattened out when it hit the glass and didn't leave so much as a mark on the door. Try that with even a very light .22 rimfire loading and the results would be much different.
Also, while the 700fps you quote is exceeded by some airguns, you don't necessarily need an airgun that powerful for good pest control as long as you are careful about shot placement. If you read Ron Robinson's books on airgun testing and hunting, you'll see that he's taken game as large as jack-rabbits using CO2 airguns with muzzle velocities lower than 500fps and careful shot placement.
Finally, the velocity figures you see quoted in advertising for airguns are typically achieved using the very lightest pellets available. A .177 airgun advertised as having a velocity of 1000fps might actually shoot under 700fps with more common (and useful) pellet weights instead of the extreme lightweights used in the testing.