Weekly Scorecard 12-20-10
Same trend continues of strong closed sales and falling inventory. The overall inventory in East Bellevue is the lowest I have ever seen it. Inventories do vary seasonally but this is very low even for this time of year. I am sure the inventories will increase at the first of the year but in my opinion it will not be as much as usual. The reason is that a lot of distressed inventory worked through the system in 2009 and not as much new inventory is coming on to replace it. Sellers who are not distressed are not choosing to participate in the market and sell until prices move up. That is the big question is when will prices start moving up. While inventories have been reduced and sales continue strong prices have not moved up. The average per sq. ft. sale prices remain stuck. I think the first of the year will bring a tug of war with newer inventory at higher overall prices and value conscious resistant buyers.
West Bellevue’s numbers were an anomally this week for the sold home numbers since a partially finished new construction was in there to throw off the numbers.
The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 12-20-10