For the past several weeks home sales have been exceeding new inventory. While it is still a buyer's market, prices seem to have responded by moving upward. If the demand continues expect prices to keep marching upward especially once we see a seller's market. It looks to me like we may very well be at the bottom. For the past three months we've seen modest increases in home values in the range of 2/10 of 1% this trend is in keeping with the national numbers as reported in the Seattle Times.
As of Monday, July 30, 2012 the median list price in Sammamish is $699,900 with an asking price per square foot of $206. The average days on the market is now 120 with a median house size of 3360 ft.² . The most reliable measure that I have found is the Market Action Index which answers the question "how is the market" by measuring the current rate of sales versus the amount of inventory. Index values above 30 imply a seller's market and conditions below 30 indicate a buyer's market. With the current Market Action Index of 18.8 we are still in a strong buyer's market however we are seeing an upward trend.
Another indicator of an improving market are multiple offers on homes. In recent weeks it has been a more and more common occurrence to have multiple offers on well priced listings resulting in higher sales prices for sellers.
The biggest concern that I have at this point is shadow inventory. Shadow inventory are homes that are either in the foreclosure process or have been foreclosed upon and not yet offered for sale. Forbes Magazine reports that there are as many as 10 million homes making up the current shadow inventory and cautions to not be so sure about the state of the real estate market recovery.
Bottom line is that prices remain low, rates remain at record lows so it really is an excellent time to buy. If you are considering selling, prices are low but then so is the price of your new home providing an excellent opportunity to get into that dream home.
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