June ‘09 – Reiling’s Real Estate Market Update – Seattle, Bellevue, King County

The links below provide a graphical summary of Real Estate Market Statistics for the Greater Seattle / Bellevue / King County area over the past 3+ years, for single-family homes and for condominiums.  The volume of sales is picking up, median prices seem to have stabilized, and the number of homes available in the lower prices ranges is dropping significantly.  Buyers today are seeing their smorgasbord of choices diminish rapidly, and are going to have to start honing their decision-making skills again.  There is quite a bit of good news in terms of number of new purchase transactions, but perhaps not quite as good as some news reports represent; Pending is not the same as Closed as noted in the previous Fallout post. 

Here’s the graphs for the current stats: (Required disclaimer: Statistics not compiled or published by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service)

Residential Sales & Stats      Condominium Sales & Stats    

   The number of sales transactions closed was up sharply again in May, now three months running and feeling pretty solid, although still 25+% below year-ago levels.  People are definitely getting off the fence and starting to buy again, and they are almost flattening the growth in inventory of houses for sale.  The Months-Supply measure of residential inventory, i.e. houses for sale, is down dramatically from 6 months ago – although that good news is mostly still in the lower part of the price range.   The rise in condominium inventory seems to be blunted too, and condominium Months Supply is down as well. If you have any questions or just want to swap ideas on any real estate-related topic, we are always available to help you.  And because our business depends on referrals, we appreciate your keeping an ear out for likely candidates to send our way – buyers, sellers, investors or friends who may be in financial trouble and need to consider a short sale – we’ve got a lot of info, and maybe we can help. 

Sincerely,    

Chuck and Diane