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By Special Agent Serena Heslop
On the housing front, sales seem to be picking up, as newer listings that have been sitting have finally gone under contract. I say ‘finally’ but, it has often only taken two to three weeks rather than one week which has been the expectation for the past few years.
The housing market has slowed for sure and no doubt next year will not see the huge price appreciations that we have seen in the past few years. However, we still have a robust economy with continued job rate growth, Amazon is not the only game in town and they are not going anywhere! Folks will still need to buy houses and there is still less supply than demand.
Recent Sales:
- 4935 44th Ave S: sold multiple offers, listed at $899,000, sold for $937,000
- 2212 29th Ave S: sold multiple offers, listed at $875,000, sold for $865,000
- 18815 64th Ave W, Pending
As you’ve likely noticed, the housing market has slowed, however it is still healthy and houses are selling, they’re often just taking a bit longer to do so.
In my opinion, real estate is very psychological and perception has played a big part in the change in the housing market. There are still a lot of people moving here and a lot of buyers out there looking.
However, when the market slowed down in early summer and then more inventory came on the market, buyers started taking more time to look. Now they’re seeing prices dropping and assume they will keep dropping, but they may or may not. Interest rates have risen some to around 5% which is still incredibly low, but not to younger buyers who have seen their friends get rates well below 4%. The reality is that they will most likely not go down again, so buyers should take advantage now.
Of my most recent listings, one sold for quite a bit over in multiple offers. The other listing did not get offers in the first week and then received two really low offers the next week, then a higher-than-list-price offer that was contingent on the buyers selling their home, then an almost full price offer which was finally accepted.
Here’s a brief synopsis of how the market is fairing compared to the spring:
- April: 81% of buy & sell transactions were multiple offers > now it’s 30%
- April: 38% cash & 41% waived financing with conventional at 21%- now conventional is 72%, waived is 7% & cash 21%
- April: 84% were waived or pre-inspected- now 49% have inspection contingencies
- Spring 2018 vs now > rent back in the 70th percentile in spring and now down in the teens
Nonetheless, the housing market is still strong, as evidenced by the fact that almost 1/3 of sales are multiple offers, over 50% of buyers are still waiving their inspection contingency, and nearly 25% of sales are cash.
