Friday Post March 6, 2021

It’s Saturday am, let’s sweep the week!

Good morning! Plenty to digest over a nice cup of Saturday coffee or tea – let’s begin…

WindermereStats.com updated Friday 3.5.21 – if you need the March password – send me a text: 206.227.7133. Brief recap for Seattle below; all reports for Seattle, Eastside, King, Snohomish (residential, condo & by mls area) ready for your on WindermereStats.com.

FEBRUARY MONTHLY TALKING POINTS SEATTLE (based on Residential report): Surprisingly, the Seattle residential market has had more listings come on in January and February, than we have had for 10+ years. YTD there are 21% more listings than last year. (2021 – 1,476 new listings vs 2020 – 1,221 new listings YTD) Additionally, there is more demand (pending transactions) than there has been for 10+ years. YTD there are 29% more pending transactions than last year. (2021 – 1,498 pending vs 2020 – 1,163 pending YTD) Seattle is seeing that there is high demand for the seasonally higher than normal supply. With 0.6 months of inventory and 43% selling above list price, highly competitive multiple offers are the norm. Feb. 2017 and Feb. 2018 both had .6 months of inventory, looking back at March in 2017 and 2018 might help us determine what may happen this March.

75% of listings have review dates * 33% of those sell before the review date or remove/change the review date. 65% were pending (any status) seven days after input. * 12.5% of properties that went pending did so first, subject to an inspection. 30% of sellers provide an inspection. * 80% of the inspections are available upon request. * 20% are available from attached documents.

Article: Where Have All the Houses Gone? The inventory of homes for sale is startlingly low. The pandemic is part of the reason, but it’s not the whole story. NY Times By Emily Badger and Quoctrung Bui | Feb. 26, 2021

Historically low interest rates and a pandemic desire for more space are driving demand — the other half is more complicated. 1. Who wants to sell a house in the middle of a pandemic? 2. Who would move into an assisted living facility or nursing home right now (freeing up a longtime family home)? 3. Who would commit to a “forever home” (freeing up their starter house) when it’s unclear what remote work will look like in six months? 4. Were in mortgage forbearance ……. meant that some homes that most likely would have come on the market over the past year, either through foreclosure or a forced sale, did not. 5. For more than a decade, less housing has been built relative to historical averages. 6. Low interest rates. That incentivized many homeowners to stay in their homes longer than they would have in the past, clinging to cheap mortgages. 7. The low rates also encouraged many homeowners who bought a new home not to sell their previous one, but to treat it as an investment property instead.

…and rolling in at #8 – and a highlighted this week on Windermere’s Instagram – what we DO know is that Home Means More. The definition of home has changed for ever and for everyone. We make an impact together in that every single day.

#HomeMeansMore – Be well, Stay well and welcome to the weekend! – Laura