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How Did January, 2010 Home Sales Stack Up in Your Seattle-Eastside Neighborhood?
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How did January, 2009 stack up to January, 2010 in your neighborhood?
(Click on the cities below to see real estate trends for the past 5 years. You’ll find the median pricing for each city and whether the number of homes for sale and the number of sales went up or down. The odds of selling a home in each area is a result of the number of homes for sale divided by the actual number of home sales.)
The plateau: Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend, and Fall City
The odds of selling a home were 21%.
Median sales price dropped from $535,000 to $499,000.
The number of homes for sale dropped by 24% and sales were up by 60% from last year.
The odds of selling a home were 28%.
Median sales price dropped from $480,000 to $450,000.
The number of homes for sale dropped by 22% and sales were up by 103%.
The odds of selling a home were 27%.
Median price stayed the same at $559,000.
The number of homes for sale dropped by 27% and sales were up 84%.
Woodinville/Bothell/Kenmore/Duvall/North Kirkland
The odds of selling a home were 18.5%.
Median price decreased to $389,725 from $438,200.
The number of homes for sale declined by 21% and sales were up by 63%.
The odds of selling a home were 23%.
Median price dropped from $512,440 to $499,950.
The number of homes for sale declined by 21% and sales were up by 90.5%.
The odds of selling a home were 12%.
Median pricing was down from $1,027,500 to $899,000.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 32.5% and sales increased by 35%.
Redmond/Education Hill/ Carnation
The odds of selling a home were 21%
Median pricing increased to $524,990 from $484,950.
The number of homes for sale decreased by 21.5% and sales increased by 73%.
Median home prices in January, 2010 increased only in one Seattle-Eastside area, Redmond, when comparing 1-09 to 1-10. If you look at the full year, prices in that area did not increase. South Bellevue and Issaquah home prices remained steady when compared January, 2009.
All other eastside areas showed a decline in pricing. The most significant decrease was in West Bellevue, where median home values dropped by almost a third. Sales in West Bellevue continued to increase from last year, although the increase was lower than what was seen in December, ’09.
Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue are booming with home sales once again, after a couple of slow months. But again, the statistics do not show prices up in this area, although home sales certainly are up!
With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, smaller numbers of homes for sale, low interest rates, real estate activity should be brisk in the first part of the year. For these reasons, if you want to sell your home and move in 2010, do it now, rather than later in 2010.
What Were The Odds of Selling Your Seattle-Eastside Home in January, 2010?
Seattle-Eastside Real Estate, January, 2010
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in January, 2010 ranged from a low of 12% to a high of 28%, with an average 21% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
January, 2010 2588 homes for sale, 539 homes sold, 27% odds of selling.
December, 2009 2584 homes for sale, 419(now 358) homes sold 16%(Now 14%) odds of selling.*
January, 2009, 3144 homes for sale 248 homes sold 9% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close. (see explanation below)
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January, 2009 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to January, 2010:
- Home sales were up in all Seattle-Eastside cities.
- The number of homes for sale dropped to the lowest number since February, 2007.
- The median price was down by 1.8%. (Keep in mind this is comparing last January’s numbers to this January and is not an indication of the total drop in price for the year.)
- Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 76%!
- Number of homes for sale on Seattle’s Eastside: down 27%
Best odds of selling: Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue are back on top as the areas with the greatest odds of selling. Twenty eight percent of the homes got offers. Last month the area had the worst odds on the eastside.
Worst odds of selling: West Bellevue with only 12% of the homes getting accepted offers.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with 103% increase in the number of home sales from last year.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: West Bellevue, with a 35% increase in home sales over last year.
Decline in real estate sales from last year: None on the eastside.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of eastside homes for sale at the start of 2010: 2584 homes
The number of eastside homes for sale now: 2588 homes.
Rate of home sales that failed: 15%
Why home sales fail to close:
- This can be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price, lenders who do not package the loan properly or the great number of short sales that are out there.
- Short sales are sales in which the selling price for a property is less than the price owed to the bank, so the seller is “short.” Many of these offers do not stay together because it often takes months for a short sale to get approved by the bank. There’s no guarantee the bank will accept an offer. I’ve heard only 4% of the short sales actually close in King County. Since there’s a huge number on the market, if you’re someone willing to take a chance and accept that your offer may never be looked at or accepted, then a short sale may be a way to go. With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, home buyers have more time to go after short sales. However, months may still be needed to get the short sale closed, if it is to close at all. Since most buyers truly want to purchase a home and close on it, I would recommend NOT making offers on short sales. I’d also recommend reading as much as you can about short sales before attempting to make an offer on a short sale. This way you’ll be prepared if you choose to go the route of a short sale.
What Were The Odds of Selling Your Seattle-Eastside Home in December, 2009?
Seattle-Eastside Residential Sales, December, 2009
The odds of selling a home on the Eastside in December 2009 ranged from a low of 11% to a high of 20%, with an average 16% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
December, 2009 2584 homes for sale, 419 homes sold 16% odds of selling.
November, 2009 2943 homes for sale 503 (now 457)homes sold 17% (now 15.5%) odds of selling.*
December, 2008 3413 homes for sale 207 homes sold 6% odds of selling.
*Adjusted from previous month’s numbers to reflect the actual number of homes sold and closed. (see explanation below) Each month some sales fall apart and don’t close. A lower number of home sales may be reported at a later date to show the actual number of sales that did close.
_____________________________________________________________
December, 2008 Seattle-Eastside real estate market compared to December, 2009:
Several important trends this month:
- Home sales were up in all Seattle-Eastside cities.
- The number of homes for sale dropped to the lowest number since March, 2007. This is a huge factor in our real estate market. For most of the past two years, there’s been a large number of homes on the market. In 2005 and 2006, when the real estate market was booming, we saw the numbers of homes for sale on the eastside in the 2000-3000 range.
- The median prices were down by 3%.
- Home sales on Seattle’s Eastside: up 81%!
Sales prices: down 3%.
Number of homes for sale: down 24%.
Best odds of selling: For the third month in a row, the cities of Sammamish, Issaquah, Fall City, Snohomish, and North Bend, with 20% of the homes selling.
Worst odds of selling: West Redmond, near Microsoft, and East Bellevue with 13% odds of homes selling.
Biggest increase in sales from last year: West Bellevue, with 279% more home sales, which translates to 34 home sales in 2009 vs. 9 home sales in 2008.
Smallest increase in sales from last year: East Bellevue/Redmond area around Microsoft with a 6% increase in sales over last year.
Home sales in Bellevue and Redmond were tops for several years and have now dropped off when compared to other eastside cities.
Decline in real estate sales from last year: None on the eastside.
The peak of homes for sale in 2008: July, 4370 homes.
The peak of homes for sale in 2009: June, 3859 homes.
The number of homes for sale at the start of 2010: 9726 homes
Rate of home sales that failed this month: 9%
Why home sales fail to close:
- This can be the result of inspections in which buyers and sellers do not agree, an appraisal that does not justify the sales price, lenders who do not package the loan properly or the great number of short sales that are out there.
- Short sales are sales in which the selling price for a property is less than the price owed to the bank, so the seller is “short.” Many of these offers do not stay together because it often takes months for a short sale to get approved by the bank. There’s no guarantee the bank will accept an offer. I’ve heard only 4% of the short sales actually close in King County. Since there’s a huge number on the market, if you’re someone willing to take a chance and accept that your offer may never be looked at or accepted, then a short sale may be a way to go. With the extension of the home buyer tax credit, home buyers have more time to go after short sales. However, months may still be needed to get the short sale closed, if it is to close at all. Since most buyers truly want to purchase a home and close on it, I would recommend NOT making offers on short sales. I’d also recommend reading as much as you can about short sales before attempting to make an offer on a short sale. This way you’ll be prepared if you choose to go the route of a short sale.
- My team and I are closing on a short sale this week. The original offer was written in August. There were two lienholders, two banks with mortgages on the property, which complicated the process. Short sales can happen, but a buyer has to expect a rocky ride through the sales process, if the banks actually respond to the offer. Be ready for most anything and most of all, be patient and not under any time constraints.
