This time of year I am so eager for spring that I am looking for signs of it every time I'm outside. I am also eager to spot any signs of renewed activity growth in our local real estate market.
Quite a few of the trees and shrubs are cooperating by starting to sprout little baby leaflets, some bulbs are starting to peek out of the ground, and some perennials are poking their plant heads up to check the weather.
The amount of unseasonably warm weather we have had this February has plants a little ahead of schedule, and us garden lovers torn between eagerness to do more planting and fear that a late cold spell could still be ahead to zap all this early growth!
I think the local real estate market reflects a little bit of that same tentative hopefulness - lots of buyers out there looking, and the available inventory really not that large in some categories. I looked today at available homes in the Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater area with at least 2 bedrooms, at least 800 square feet, list price under $200,000; then also excluded short sales, manufactured homes, fixers, and new construction not yet completed. This represents what a lot of first time home buyers are looking for, especially those trying to buy in time to qualify for the tax credit. And the available listing count was just 100 homes!
If you bump up the search to $300,000 list price and only exclude short sales, manufactured homes and fixers you are up to 561 available homes - but $300,000 is out of reach for a lot of people.
Then I also looked at how many total residential closings our entire county has had since January 1st and found 237 closed sales, with 197 of them under $300,000.
So, I think the real estate market has a few commonalities with our glimpses of spring - activity, yes. Still some fear and hesitation about the future outlook, yes. But those glimpses of new plant growth do make me smile, and the buyer activity also seems to indicate renewed growth in the real estate market. Now we will just hope to avoid any freezes in either!
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