New Bellevue Blog

Many of our social networks are good for little more than - socializing. Facebook and MySpace are “internet-centric” rather than community-centric. We have our online groups, but are we leveraging these associations to improve our lives or communities? We have greater influence to catalyze change with those in close geographic proximity.

Bellevue’s newest blog is hardly a blog at all BloggingInBellevue.com is a city-centric social networking platform allowing community members to voice concerns, raise awareness, meet neighbors and influence opinions. The site is allowing users to create groups, invite friends, upload pics/videos, and offer suggestions for improving the site.

Log onto www.BloggingInBellevue.com for more details.

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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

http://www.SearvingBellevue.com

http://www.SeattleAreaHomes.com

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Market Update From www.SeattleAreaHomes.com

Seattle Real Estate Market News from Amie and David Sprague
September 2007

Inventories are up but prices contiue to rise overall

Overall the Seattle area real estate market remains strong as compared to the rest of the country.

Only five of the cities surveyed for S&P’s 20-city index showed a year-over-year increase in prices in June. Seattle led the way with a 7.9 percent price rise, followed by Charlotte (6.8 percent) and Portland (4.5 percent). Atlanta and Dallas (1.6 percent each) rounded out the group.

Prices in Boston dropped in June at a slower rate than they did in May, continuing a trend that started at the beginning of the year. In April 2006, Boston was the first metropolitan area to show a year-over-year decline, so any turnaround there could be an early sign of recovery!

After years of rapidly rising home prices, the national real estate market stalled last year, with prices holding steady or falling as sales slowed. Since then, lenders have made it more difficult for some people to get mortgages by tightening standards just as foreclosures rise and some who borrowed at adjustable rates are facing higher payments they can’t meet.

Problems have spread from those with poor credit repayment histories to more creditworthy borrowers

Numbers just out from the Seattle MLS and Bellevue MLS show dramatic increases of available homes for sale for the month of July 2007. There are 9947 homes for sale in King County or 44% more homes available as compared to the sale time last year. This is actually a 16 year high. We had to look back to 1991 to find these numbers of available properties. It is no longer a “sellers” market. There has been a significant rise in the number of available condos, 2955 for sale now, an increase of 80% more available condos as compared to the same time last year.

The national real estate markets have slowed significantly with sales at about half of what they were last year. The change in available home mortgages has prompted this current national slow down.This is the 5th straight month of slipping home sales nationally. Even though the Puget Sound area is economically strong that the rest of the nation, those numbers do effect the market here.

Investors last week gained a sense that the subprime and credit market problems were not going to sink our national economy.

That realization, however, makes the likelihood of an interest rate cut at the Federal Reserves’ next meeting less certain than it appeared 2 weeks ago.

With interest rates having to go nowhere but up (they are at historical lows) we are encouraging our buyers to purchase asap. Don’t wait for interest rates to rise.

Contact us if you have any questions, David Sprague 425-250-3200 assc Broker
RE/MAX Realty Professionals

www.SeattleAreaHomes.com www.ServingBellevue.com

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