Seattle Housing Buzz

One of the Puget Sound’s pre-eminent builders, John F Buchan Homes, is offering buyers a private jet membership with Flight Options. The membership package is valued at $100,000 and can be used to fly on one of several private jets operated by Flight Options.

“John F. Buchan has set the standard for luxury home construction, backed by a tradition of quality and design,” said Louis Howard, Buchan’s EVP. “We also pride ourselves on being innovative and going above and beyond the competition.”

Howard says that he not only sees the private jet membership as an incentive for buyers, but also as a means to take their lifestyle to an entirely new level. The jet membership campaign launched on December 7 and will run through January 31. Only full-price, non-contingent offers on completed John F. Buchan Homes priced at 1.2 million dollars and higher are eligible for the private jet program.

Buchan communities are predominately located on the Eastside and Bainbridge Island. For more information on Buchan properties, please visit www.buchan.com.

Tags: Buchan Homes, John F Buchan, John L Scott, Private Jet, Seattle Real Estate

There have been significant news reports about the housing market in the media lately. Most of the reports focus on falling prices, increasing foreclosure rates and rising inventory, but at a national level. Locally, how has Seattle fared?

In November, Seattle’s residential median price of $405,000 reflected a 2.2% increase over October, but a 4.7% decrease compared to the same period last year. As the graph below shows, the median price has been underperforming for the past few months.

In reviewing month over month figures, the single family home median price has stabilized while condominiums have declined the past two months. However, when compared to last November, both single family homes and condos saw higher median prices in November 2007, increasing 3.3% and 2.5%, respectively.

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Tags: Seattle Condos, Seattle Housing, Seattle Housing Market, Seattle Real Estate

KIRKLAND, Wash. (Dec. 6, 2007) –A “typical holiday market,” “the start of an optimum buy zone,” “a good time to beat the spring rush,” and a “wonderful time to be a home buyer” are among reactions by directors of Northwest Multiple Listing Service upon viewing the activity summary for November.

The latest recap report issued by Northwest MLS shows little price fluctuation from a year ago, ample inventory (about 31 percent more listings than a year ago, but 6.3 percent fewer than the previous month), the expected seasonal slowdown of sales activity, along with reports of “busy agents” who are working with motivated buyers and sellers.

For its 19-county market area, MLS members reported 5,194 pending sales of single family homes and condos (combined) last month, down from 7,022 for the same month a year ago, a drop of 26 percent.

An analysis of the falloff in activity in the four-county Puget Sound region from October to November shows this year’s decline, at 12.4 percent, is the third lowest of the past eight years. Since 2000, pending sales from October to November have dropped from a low of 5.3 percent (in 2001) to a high of 25 percent in 2003.

Prices on completed sales of single family homes and condos dipped slightly — 1.35 percent area-wide — from a year ago. For November’s closed sales, the median price was $315,000, which compares to the year-ago figure of $319,300.
For the four-county Puget Sound region (King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties), the median selling price for last month’s closed sales of single family homes and condominiums was $340,000, down about 1.2 percent from the same month a year ago when the price was $344,000. For single family homes only (excluding condos), the median price for the four-county area rose about 1 percent, from $363,500 to $367,352. For condos, the median price increased more than 3.9 percent, from $255,000 to $265,000.

In King County, the median price declined 2.9 percent for the “blended” property types (single family homes and condominiums); the price declined from $397,500 to $385,990. The price for single family homes only (excluding condos) was unchanged at $435,000. The median selling price for condos that sold in King County last month was $284,450, an increase of 4.2 percent from twelve months ago when the median price was $272,950. One factor contributing to the price dip is the growing popularity of condos, which tend to have lower prices. A year ago, condos accounted for 25.3 percent of closed sales in King County; last month, condos made up 30.3 percent of sales countywide.

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Tags: Housing Market Report, NWMLS, Seattle Housing, Seattle Real Estate