Thursday, September 07, 2006

Properties are Still Selling in Seattle

You can walk up to any water cooler or any group of people and immediately start a debate on the housing market. I've found, however, this is mostly an emotional debate based loosely on impressions or advice from this guy or that gal. Hardly are hard numbers involved. Now, numbers can be manipulated to show any number of things rarely show the whole picture. However, I like to look at the raw numbers and determine for myself what I think they mean. And I will post these raw numbers on this blog. If you have any market analysis requests in the Tacoma or Seattle area email me and I will see what I can do.

So without further adieu:

Seattle is one of those highly discussed area, partially because it appears the market is not slowing down much. I attribute this to a growing downtown commercial and residential core, a lack of easy expansion due to geography, and the commute.

The following numbers are based on Single Family Homes and Condos.

The number of buyers is constant, which is an indication of a strong market. The inventories, or number of active listings, are rising, doubling actually each month. The next couple of months should be interesting. The rule of thumb is if the inventory is less than 3 months the number of properties sold per month then it is a seller's market. If it is more than 6 months then it is a buyer's market.

Interestingly enough the average days on the market and the price has stayed the same. Homes and Condos are selling in about 30 days and the average price is 475k.


Stay tuned.

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