Seattle Real Estate Market Update

King County Washington Real Estate is witnessing stronger sales than we have in the past two years – but these have been a horrible past two years which makes it easy to have a 54% increase for our Year over Year sales. (http://housingquarterly.com/) 

Bottom line – houses & condos are selling again – so it’s a good sign for people that need to sell their property.  It’s great to see people being able to get on with their lives without being tied down by the real estate market.  In the past two years it’s been a difficult decision to short sell, rent it or even worse options for people wanting to sell their home.  With the market improving – things are selling again.  It’s all very local and Urban Abode Group has access to many statistics software packages if you want to discuss in person.  It’s eye opening to see your price point and your zip code inside of TrendGraphix.  http://trendgraphix.com/ We can show you the zip code you live in with TrendGraphix.

What is selling?  Updated and attractively priced houses, townhomes and condos in desirable neighborhoods are selling in less than 60 days.  If you are looking for a well maintained and updated house in a desirable Seattle & Eastside neighborhood – it’s not unusual to have multiple offers or sell at full price in the current market.  If you are looking to sell your property – it’s improved drastically compared with 2008 & 2009 – you finally have some great options.  If you price it right & it looks/smells great – it will sell fast.  Condo lending is tougher than house lending right now.

We do have negative issues in the Seattle housing market.  We still have a high amount of distressed properties and homeowners that are underwater on their values. Until these factors change we are not ‘out of the woods’.  King County has a balanced amount of inventory on the market right now, but there is still a lot of ‘shadow inventory’ of people that would like to sell but have decided to rent their unit until the market rebounds.  There is also a ton of bank owed inventory that has yet to hit the King County market.  This inventory is not counted right now because it’s not on the market for sale with the MLS.

King County is back to selling approximately 4,000 units a month– which is an improvement over 2008 & 2009 sales that witnessed sales or almost half that amount.  http://alanpope.com/charts.htm has all of the charts for you to see this improvement in King County sales.  The tax credit and delayed transactions are fueling the transactions during Spring 2010.  Summer already has a good amount of pending sales.

“But what is going to happen now that the tax credit has stopped” is a question we have been getting quite a bit.  Time will tell but based on our personal transactions and talking with agents around Seattle – we are even busier now that the tax credit has ended.  There is still a built up demand of buyers and people needing to sell homes that have rented or delayed moving during 2008/2009.  Interest rates are still historically low, which makes it a great time to buy!  Cheap money fuels a lot of home buying.

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