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Summertime Melt-up?
I hope everyone enjoyed our beautiful Pacific Northwest summer! While I've been able to enjoy some of it myself, I've also stayed very busy as the housing market continued to be strong over these past two months. I thought it might be a good time for a market update so below you will find a few data charts for King and Snohomish Counties combined. These charts are a good representation of what's going on in north King and south Snohomish Counties including cities like Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Shoreline, Bothell, Brier, Mountlake Terrace, and Edmonds.
The inventory of active homes for sale is finally higher than at any point last spring or summer. However, it is still historically low at only 2.2 "months of inventory" which means it technically remains a seller's market. New listings and closed sales fell off a bit compared with July, but pending sales (homes placed under contract) did increase slightly from last month.
This graph shows the pop up in months of inventory to back over 2 months. Will it stay there or fall back down like it did last year going into the fall months?
Sold prices have appreciated very slightly from July to an Average of $466,000. This is up 12.8% compared to last August. More interesting is that the average Active asking price is coming down into more reasonable territory after a somewhat irrational exuberance by some sellers in the spring.
The average dollar per square foot value held basically flat since last month at $210/sqft.
The average selling price as a percentage of the original listing price is holding steady at 99%. There are still many multiple offer situations but that trend is cooling a bit.
The average consecutive days on market remains steady as well at 34 days.
To conclude, the market is still very strong, although it did level off in the late summer. The early fall months typically bring a new crop of buyers and sellers out who want to make a move before the holidays and the end of the year. It'll be interesting to see if that trend holds true once more. Stay tuned!
Has the Housing Market Reached the Bottom?
The latest NW Multiple Listing Service press release titled ‘Washington Homebuyers Realizing “Market may have Reached Bottom of Cycle”‘ suggests that confidence in a market bottom is increasing across the Puget Sound. Very low inventory and very low interest rates contributed toward a huge pending sale increase in February. For example, the release states: “Within King County, pending sales were particularly robust in the Lake Forest Park/Kenmore neighborhoods (up 73 percent), Kent (up 61 percent), Burien/Normandy Park (up 58 percent) and central Seattle (up 56 percent). The northeast portion of Snohomish County also experienced strong sales (up 63 percent from a year ago).” You can read the full article here.
North King County Real Estate Recap for January 2012
January housing market stats are out so let’s do a little recap and analysis of housing market activity in North King County. The charts below include statistics for the cities of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, and the King County part of Bothell. This first graph shows the active homes for sale in light green, the homes under contract (pending) as the red line, and closed sales in blue. You can see quite clearly that the inventory of available homes is the lowest it’s been in a long time. Part of that is due to the time of year and it will be natural for more homes to come on the market as we get closer to spring. But even with the lower inventory, pending sales increased quite dramatically in January. That tells me there is some pent up demand from buyers and they are out there taking advantage of historically low interest rates and lower prices. A relatively small number of sales closed in January but that’s not too unusual because fewer people are making offers in December. The pending sales line should precede closed sales by 1-2 months so it is a leading indicator of sales that will close in February and March.
Now let’s look at prices. The average sales price for this north end of King County last month was $342,000 and $148/sqft. That is down about 10% from January 2011. BUT, I really don’t feel like you can say that all homes lost that much value last year. I believe that a lot this last year’s overall price decline is attributed to the fact that a higher percentage of lower priced homes sold. If you look just at homes priced between $300,000 and $600,000 in this same area, average prices actually increased slightly!
Average consecutive days on market increased to 113 from 102 days in December. But, we were at 139 days last January. And it’s very encouraging to see that the sales price, as a percentage of the listing price, increased to 96% from 94% in December and from 92% last January.
Finally, another measurement of the low inventory is shown in this Months of Inventory chart. We are at only 3.1 months of inventory based on Pending sales. Most of last year was very healthy in the 3.7 to 4.8 range. Getting under 3 months of inventory would basically be a sellers market while 3-6 months is a balanced market and above 6 would be a buyers market. Of course, every price range is different so there is definitely more demand in certain areas and prices than in others.
Real estate markets are extremely local so every house and neighborhood is unique. Use these trends as a guideline, but at the point you are thinking about selling your home, or if you find a new home that you think you want to buy, consult with a Realtor who knows your area who can assess the property, the neighborhood, and your specific situation.
*Statistics not compiled nor published by the NWMLS
What Can a REALTOR® Do For You as a Buyer?
When we think of selling a home, the services a REALTOR® can provide usually seem worth the cost of their
commission, but what about as a buyer? What can a REALTOR® do for you as a home buyer, and is the commission
worth the services they can provide? Remember, even though the commission is usually paid by the seller, hiring a REALTOR® as a buyer’s agent means your interests will be represented and protected.
Here are five great reasons you should hire a REALTOR® when you are in the market for a new home!
- REALTORS® Can Help You Determine Your Budget—With a few simple pieces of information, a REALTOR® can help you pre-determine what kind of budget you may be looking at for your new home, and can match you with potential lenders that are right for you.
- REALTORS® Have Access To Resources You Don’t—While a lot of real estate listings are available online, there are still
resources and listings that are only available through a REALTOR®. If you are looking for something very specific, having their insider knowledge may be crucial to finding that perfect home.
- REALTORS® Can Read Between The Lines Of Listings—There are a lot of catchy phrases that often appear in home listings, and your agent can tell you what they really mean.
- REALTORS® Increase Your Negotiating Power—A REALTOR® can not only increase your ability to negotiate things like price, they can also give you advice on things like contingency contracts and required paperwork.
- A REALTOR® Can Help You Navigate Through The Closing Process—The closing process can be a complicated process, and a REALTOR® can make sure all the details are addressed and that you are making a good financial investment.
Purchasing a home is a huge financial investment, and having a professional REALTOR® looking after your interests through the process is very important.
