King and Snohomish County Real Estate Recap for November 2011

See below for charts and stats for the housing market as of the end of November for King and Snohomish Counties combined. As it often happens this time of year, the inventory of available homes is decreasing steadily. There are actually 25% fewer homes for sale this year than there were last year. However, sales are holding up nicely– pending sales are up 19% and closed sales are up nearly 26% from last year.

Prices did take a dip in October, as I mentioned last month, but so far they are holding pretty steady in that same range. The Average sales price is $361,000 and $166/sqft for the two counties combined. Days on market bumped up a little to 97 days, from 92. And months of inventory is holding pretty firm around 5 months, based on closed sales. That indicates a fairly balanced market.

To summarize the housing market right now in our area: Inventory is tight, prices are down slightly from earlier in the year but holding steady, and interest rates are still very, very low. I still see the lower price ranges being most active even as we head into the new year, but there are great deals at higher price ranges so it’s a perfect time to “move up” if you can afford to do so.

At the beginning of January, I will do full year recap and provide stats to show how the market has changed over the last 5+ years.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!