Happy New Year!

As 2017 kicks off, I get to celebrate my 15-year anniversary at Windermere! I’m proud to be associated with such a great company, and I’m grateful to be able to work with so many enjoyable, well-educated, and ethical colleagues. In an ever-changing real estate market and political landscape, it’s nice to have some consistency.

To recap the 2016 real estate market in King and Snohomish Counties combined, there were 14% fewer listings during the year, but 6% more homes sold in 2016 than in 2015. Inventory is near all time lows and average days on market is sitting at only 29 days, although most well priced homes sell much faster. The average sales price in our area rose about 8% in 2015 and rose another 11% in 2016 to end the year at $593,000 and $265/sqft.

I do believe the new Trump administration brings some uncertainty, but it may or may not affect the housing market much. Mortgage rates do need to be watched closely though as they have ticked up in the past two months. That is having a real effect on buyer’s purchasing power and some are already feeling pinched if they are searching at the top of their price range. Hopefully, rates don’t rise too far too fast. We are fortunate to live where we do as the Puget Sound economy is doing well and people are still moving here for jobs so I am fairly confident that the current seller’s market will continue through most of this year.