| Real Estate Market Overview |
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Our real estate market is continuing to look solid on an ongoing basis, and of course is starting to look very good compared to the crash months of last Fall. Last Fall, home sales, both residential and condominium, fell precipitously from October to November. Not so this year. The level of Closed Sales, i.e. purchase transactions completed, continues to be strong, and Inventory continues to drop in both Residential and Condominium. Some of that buying clearly has been stimulated by the federal First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, which had been scheduled to expire December 1. With the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit extended to next Spring, and the new Existing Homebuyer Tax Credit for the same period, we’ll see how that extra incentive affects our ‘normal’ winter/holiday seasonal decline cycle. Hmmm, seems like its been awhile since things seemed normal  .I’ll do a blog post on that ‘normal’ seasonal effect later this week. |
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| Current Market Statistics |
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The links below provide a graphical summary of Real Estate Market Statistics for the Seattle/Bellevue/King County area over the most recent 2+ years, for single-family homes and for condominiums. The volume of residential sales has seasonally topped and will slow a bit through the Fall and Winter months, although that is not obvious right now in the condominium market. Median prices seem to be holding steady, and the number of homes available is staying well below 2007 and 2008 levels. Months-Supply, a key measure of market health, continues to stay near the magic balance point of 6 months, running a bit lower for Residential and a bit higher for Condominium. The large Pending-Sale backlog is continuing to run pretty high, indicating a lot of transactions hung up in escrow on financing and short-sale issues. Here’s the charts for the current stats: (Required disclaimer: Statistics not compiled, reviewed or verified by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service)
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