Summer 2009 Highlights
Snapshot– What’s Happening in Real Estate
For several months in a row, sales of properties in the 3-county area of King, Snohomish and Pierce have continued to increase. In most instances, sales of properties in major Western Washington cities have also increased when compared year-over-year.
What hasn’t increased, though, is price. That has continued a downward trend, along with higher number of days before a property sells.
Distressed properties, such as short sales, have been increasing in number for quite some time in the region. In the Seattle core areas, I see the majority of these types of properties in the southern and western parts of the city, but they have started to appear in other areas too, like Green Lake and Ballard. We’re also seeing more distressed homes in the higher-price ranges and the luxury markets, as buyers for these properties are scarce.
The summer real estate season, traditionally one that is active and busy, has just started. We’re seeing more buyers out there, some investors coming out for deals, and more listings from sellers who have been waiting for this time of year to list.
-Rich
Market Volatility
There’s been a lot of news about the fluctuations in the real estate market. More properties are selling than in recent months, but foreclosures are up. At the same time, prices are still falling, new construction projects are slowing and interest rates (and gas prices) are rising.
What’s going on?
After talking to several lenders and bankers during the past month, it seems safe to say that we’ve likely seen the end of sub-5% mortgages; we just can’t continue to sustain such low interest rates. Many banks—especially smaller, regional ones—have gotten out of doing mortgages altogether because they’ve been deemed high-risk, low-return.
If you follow my real estate site or the newspaper’s real estate section, you’ve seen articles with such headlines as “Industry Insiders See Prices Bottom,” or “Sales Up, Prices Slide.”
The fact is that we don’t know exactly where the bottom of prices is or when we’ll get there, but experts think we’re close.
The government’s economic recovery efforts will take time. We’ll know in the near-future if the measures can improve the economy quickly enough, or if the money’s being put into quicksand fixes that will ultimately prove to be fruitless, increasingly expensive, and worsen the problems in the long-run.
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