Archive for March 12th, 2009

Seattle Housing market update

12th March

2009

written by robgraham

Each month the numbers get crunched and we in the real estate industry pour over what they might possibly mean. I am a numbers junkie so when the numbers came out for February I had to dive right in. Things are definitely changing, but what exactly does that mean for you? Lets crunch some numbers and I’ll give you my thoughts.

Lets break this up so I don’t overwhelm you:

Single Family Homes for the Seattle Metro Area:

	For Sale	Sold
January ’09	1841	149
February ’09	2209	184
% Change	16.7%	19%

So there was an increase of homes for sale by 16.7% in February vs. January. Not all that surprising. There is usually a surge in homes that come up for sale at this time of year. Many home sellers are reluctant to have their homes for sale during December and January and so we always see a surge in late winter and early spring of houses for sale.

What is good to see is that houses were being bought more quickly then they were coming on the market. There was a surge of 19% for sales. This is a good sign for the market. There are buyers buying up homes quicker then they came on the market last month.

	Collective Days on Market
January ’09	109
February ’09	143
% Change	23.8%

Wow. This is a telling stat. the average time a home that sold last month was on the market before it sold went way up. That would suggest that while there are more buyers for homes, they are looking at the homes that have been on the market for a while. This statistic along with the next suggest a good deal of bottom feeding. Buyers are looking for bargains.

	Median Home Price
January ’09	$408,000
February ’09	$371,000
% Change	9%

Again wow. Not only are buyers looking for homes that have been around for a while, but they are looking for the bargains. The average home being sold last month dropped 9% compared to January. So again, we are seeing bargain shoppers entering the market in February and gobbling up low priced inventory that has been sitting on the market for some time.

Part of this phenomenon may be that the stimulus package featured an $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. First time home buyers tend to purchase cheaper homes then the rest of the market as a whole. Still, there are more buyers in the market in February then in January. Because of this we saw inventory take a slight dip down. It is still a strong buyers market, but not quite as high as it was in January when we saw record inventory.

For those of you curious, condominiums followed very similar trends compared to single family homes. Slightly less inventory as buyers looking for bargains came off the sidelines and gobbled up some of the cheaper inventory that has been on the market for a while.

Bottom feeding is a first sign of a recovery. If this trend continues for the next two months I will be happy to declare this the bottom of the housing market in Seattle.

Stay tuned, I’ll keep you posted.

As always, if you have specific data you would like to see here, let me know. I’ll be happy to see what I can do to bring it to you.

And also, if you ever need an agent, I’d love to work with you. I am always looking for new clients, so let me know if you need help.

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