Hi Gina Madeya Windermere Yarrow Bay hoping you had a wonderful Memorial Day. With vaccination progress and warmer weather things are starting to return to normal. The question from my clients is “when will the HOUSING market return to normal”. In our area, “normal” is relative since we haven’t had a balanced market for years. Save for a small period in 2018 when mortgage rates were in the mid 4s our market has consistently been defined by competition manifesting in quickly moving inventory often selling for above asking price. According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales are down 2.7% for the third straight month, though year to date through April sales are still up 20%.

Meanwhile, the national median sales price rose 19% year over year to $341,600, both record highs. The latest local stats show that double digit price increases and percentage of multiple offers has increased every month since February. In April on the Eastside 82% of all listings sold above asking price for a median difference of 15%. This was up from 76% in March which was up from 65% in February. So even though the number of sales is down, competition remains fierce. And while “NORMAL” may still be far off, as month over month increases continue in the double digits, buyer fatigue is setting in.

As a result, some buyers are choosing to sit out the market in the hope that more inventory will become available and/or that prices will eventually come down. But as long as interest rates remain low, even an influx of additional inventory, won’t soon balance the supply and demand scales. So, buyers still in the hunt, still need to bring their A game. Though there may be less competition in terms of total number of offers, we are still seeing high escalations and contingency waivers. But a word of caution to Sellers, not is not the time to be greedy. It’s still important to set an asking price that makes sense relative to the sold comparables.

𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐯𝐬. 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟐𝟎% 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞.

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩! 𝟒𝟐𝟓-𝟒𝟗𝟓-𝟎𝟗𝟐𝟔