Welcome to the year 2012! I am calling a Buyer's market in Kent WA. It's all about supply and demand with any type of product and a house is no different. Currently in Kent WA there are 407 homes on the market, 67 homes pending their inspection and 157 homes that are pending having already had their inspections. These 67 homes will most likely close and ownership transfer in the next 30-90 days. In January 43 of those 157 went pending with 9 pending inspection and 12 pending SS. There are a total of 69 homes currently in the SS pending status. These homes are waiting for the underlying lien holder to approve the short sale price submitted.
In January there were 60 homes sold in Kent WA. Now remember these figures are only for homes that are in the Kent area, which can include the city limits and unincorporated areas like those out in the Covington area, like Winterwood Estates, Remington, etc. All of these homes have the address with Kent listed as the city.
The homes that sold in Kent WA sold for an average sold price of $242,585 which is a decrease of 32.962% from the boom days of 2007. That January average sold price is a 6.82% INCREASE from December 2011. We can only hope that trend continues. The Kent WA market is really trying to get to normal.
How do we decide if this is a buyer's market? Its all about supply and demand or absorption rates. We figure this using the current inventory of 407 homes on the market and the number of homes sold last month, which was 60. Divide 407 by 60 and you have the number of 6.78. I know this could be a normal market on the high end but looking at only 35 homes sold in Feb so far this figure is going to increase.
• NORMAL MARKET :: conditions exist when the Absorption Rate is between 5 and 6 months
• SELLER’S MARKET :: conditions exist when the Absorption Rate is lower. (1 – 4 months)
• BUYER’S MARKET :: conditions exist when the Absorption Rate is higher. ( 7 plus months)
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