Weekly Scorecard 7-26-10
It appears that inventories overall are peaking and that sales continue at a steady pace although not as quick as in the April and May time frame. The market seems stuck in a “trading range”. If you look at the per sq. ft. sale numbers overall they seem to have not moved when averaged out. I use the per sq. ft. price as mopre accurate guide as opposed to average price since overall factors like neighbiorhiid charateristics and underlying land value are factored. In essence when a market heads up you see the per sq. ft, prices move up overall. This price reflects the underlying value assigned to the neighborhood and the underlying land. When a market begins to move up it is the underlying land that escalates. When the land values in neighborhoods escalate high enough like in West Bellevue the tear down cycle starts kicking in.
What you see in the numbers is that East Bellevue and South Bellevue are stuck in a per sq. ft. price of $220 per sq. ft. and this number has not moved for over 18 months. West Bellevue’s value is a little over $350 per sq. ft. Buers seem to be waiting out the market and individual listings and when the values come down to the the overall market value based on the per sq. ft. number the home will sell. The homes that sell the quickest are those that price at this value when they list. There has been many homes that have gone in under a week because the price was listed at or slightly under the per sq. ft. average price for a home in good condition. Generally sellers who want to “test” the market just sit until they come down to the demonstrated market price.
There is no shortage of buyers but they seem only willing to pay so much and no more. When a home is listed at the market price there are often multiple offers. These buyers seem to have their price and have been rewarded for waiting but also know the market good enough when a price will come down far enough to be competitive. Many of these buyers have been tracking the market for over a year and only buy when they feel it has “bottomed” and for the last year it appears to be these prevailing average per sq. ft. prices.
The apreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 7-26-10