March 2007 - NWMLS Update
Last Month’ s Pending Sales Surpassed February by 16 Percent
KIRKLAND, Wash. (April 5, 2007) - With warmer temperatures, the residential real estate market seems to be heating up around Western Washington, according to the latest report from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Figures released today show its members reported 9,340 pending sales of single family homes and condominiums during March, the highest volume since August 2006, when brokers notched 10,022 pending sales.
Inventory continues to rise - and so are prices.
Brokers added 12,073 news listings of single family homes and 2,208 new listings of condominiums to the NWMLS inventory during March, bringing the total number of active listings to 34,463. Even though the selection is almost 1.5 times larger than a year ago when inventory totaled 23,533 listings, both asking and selling prices continue to rise.
NWMLS figures show the median price for sales of single family homes that closed last month across its 19-county market area was $345,000, up more than 13 percent from a year ago. Condominiums that sold and closed last month fetched a median price of $252,000, for an increase of 10.7 percent compared to twelve months ago.
In the four-county Puget Sound region, Snohomish County experienced the sharpest price hikes. The median price for last month’s closed sales of single family homes (excluding condos) was $382,500, up about 16 percent from the same month a year ago; condo prices jumped 25.7 percent, rising from $189,970 to $238,796.
Pending sales area-wide lagged the year-ago total of 10,289 transactions, but compared to February, there were about 1,300 more pending sales (offers made and accepted, but not yet closed) for a 16 percent gain. ”
My agents are busy, busy, busy,” reports D’ Ann Jackson, managing broker of John L. Scott Mercer Island. Noting the year was slower to kick off because of snow and windstorms, Jackson, the immediate past president of the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors®, said things now “are moving along very nicely.” Anything that is priced right and well marketed is moving quickly - “even in the 1.5 million dollar-plus price ranges,” she added.
NWMLS director Dick Beeson, broker/owner of Windermere Real Estate/Commencement Associates in Tacoma, echoed Jackson’s comments, while emphasizing the importance of realistic pricing. “It just feels like a normal market with well priced homes seeing offers in 30 days or less and sellers of overpriced properties having a gut check and a motivation check to see if they really are serious about selling,” he observed.
The steam is beginning to build, according to Beeson, who said the expectation of buyers is now starting to change to one of “don’t miss this opportunity to get the best price and low interest rates.”
In Seattle, the market for single family homes in close-in neighborhoods is actually “hotter right now than it was at this time last year,” according to NWMLS director Mike Skahen, owner/broker of Lake & Co. Real Estate, Inc. Skahen said it’s rare for homes not to have multiple offers and not to go over the list price, but it is occurring in virtually every price range. Among recent examples, he cited a Green Lake house listed for $895,000 that drew multiple offers and sold for $925,000, and a Northgate listing at $485,000 that sold for $520,000. He also noted Green Lake is fast becoming a million dollar neighborhood with several new homes being built in the $1.5-to-$2 million price range.
Brokers agreed the widely-reported subprime lending problems are having little discernible impact on the local market so far.
“It’s important to keep the subprime lending problem in perspective,” said Erik Hand, president of Response Mortgage Service, a subsidiary of John L. Scott Real Estate. “It’s literally a percentage of a percentage of the market that is being impacted,” according to Hand, who noted, “We’ve been fairly protected from the subprime problem in the Puget Sound region because of our healthy economy and strong housing appreciation. Furthermore, our local buyer demographic tends to be slightly more conservative when it comes to lending; therefore as a region, we have far fewer subprime loans as compared to other parts of the country.”
David Lereah, senior vice president and chief economist at the National Association of Realtors®, said continued volatility in the mortgage markets is expected over the next several months. He said NAR is working diligently to propose and pursue appropriate solutions “so future homebuyers can finance their homes with safe, fair and affordable mortgages.”
Among the resources NAR offers through its members are a series of consumer education brochures, some designed for homebuyers with less-than-perfect credit. The “Shopping for a Mortgage? Do Your Homework First” brochures explain the risks and advantages of various types of mortgages and how to avoid predatory lending.
Northwest Multiple Listing Service is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Based in Kirkland and owned by its member brokers, it currently encompasses nearly 2,100 companies with more than 26,000 sales associates. Together, they serve 19 counties, mostly in western Washington, plus Grant, Kittitas and Okanogan counties in the central part of the state.
