Bellevue area real estate market news
Key Indicators for August Home Sales Around Washington
Show Continuing Trend of Fewer Sales, Higher Prices
Bellevue , Wash. (Sept. 10, 2007) – Housing activity around western Washington during August resembled the pattern of the past several months with inventory continuing to grow, fewer homes selling and prices increasing compared to the same month a year ago.
New figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service show pending sales in its 19-county service area dropped more than 22 percent from twelve months ago, while prices rose 2.8 percent. Last month’s volume of pending sales, which totaled 7,751 transactions, was down about 10 percent from July when members reported 8,614 pending sales system-wide.
Brokers report plentiful selection in most areas, with inventory almost 46 percent larger than the number of listings offered a year ago. At month end, there were 48,585 active listings of single family homes and condominiums in the Northwest MLS database, up from the year-ago total of 33,316.
The total includes 14,500 new listings that MLS members added during the month – the fewest number since March. Those additions include 12,239 single family homes and 2,261 condominiums.
” Savvy buyers are finding real values because they know motivated sellers are more flexible than they’ve been in a long time.
Despite market conditions that tend to favor buyers in many areas, home prices are still increasing, but at a slower pace. For most counties in the NWMLS service area, the year-over-year gain was less than 7 percent, although five counties (Grant, Island, Lewis, Okanogan and San Juan) experienced double-digit price jumps compared to twelve months ago.
For the Puget Sound region encompassing King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties, selling prices rose about 5 percent from a year ago. The median price for the 5,975 sales of single family homes and condos in the four-county region that closed during August was $361,822; a year ago, the median selling price was $344,575.
A closer look reveals considerable variation in year-over-year price changes within the MLS service area. In King County, for example, the median price of a single family home (excluding condominiums) that sold last month was $477,345, a jump of more than 9.7 percent from a year ago. For single family homes in Pierce County, the median selling price rose 6 percent, rising from $275,000 to $291,500. In Snohomish County, sales prices climbed from $368,875 to $375,000, a gain of about 4.5 percent.
Prices surged 30 percent for single family homes that sold in San Juan County last month compared to a year ago. Sellers in Jefferson County experienced a similar gain (28.4 percent).
Condo prices also vary widely across the Northwest MLS service area. In eight counties, the median price of a condo that sold during August was under $200,000.
In King County, which accounts for about six of every 10 condo sales in the MLS system, the median sales price for last month’s completed sales rose 5.75 percent, increasing from $269,500 to $285,000. Within King County, the southwest and eastside sub-areas had double-digit price gains on condo sales compared to a year ago.
The highest priced condos continue to be found in downtown Seattle. The median price for last month’s completed sales of condos in the downtown area was $430,000, a slight drop from the year-ago figure of $440,000.
Washington state continues to experience little fallout from loan delinquencies and foreclosures. A recent analysis by the Mortgage Bankers Association pegs the state’s foreclosure rate on all loans at 2.6 percent, one of only six states with rates under 3 percent. For subprime ARMS (adjustable rate mortgages) the default rate for Washington stood at 10.4 percent; only Oregon (10.2 percent) and Utah (9.4 percent) claimed lower rates of delinquencies.
Washington also fared better than most states for home price appreciation for the second quarter. Surveys by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) shows Washington was one of only four states where homes appreciated at 9 percent or more between the second quarter of 2006 and the second quarter of 2007.
Any questions or comments?
David Sprague assoc Broker
RE/MAX Realty Professionals 425-250-3200
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