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Weekly Scorecard 8-24-09

Well the beat keeps going on. The number of listings is down to 280 so the inventory keeps fluctuating between 280 and 290. Sales were good at 12 sales but this week no sales were over a $1,000,000 but the per sq. ft. price edged up to $233 per sq. ft. and the average sales price was in more typical range at $438,750, i.e. under $500,000. Also appeared to be no bank owned homes or short sales.

Five homes went pending. The per sq. ft. average was $231 per sq. ft. and the average lsit price was $501,710. Again no homes over $1,000,000. There was one bank owned home pending. It was the same dinger at $254,900. Let’s see if it makes it to the finish line this time. Open house traffic appears good but the buyers I am talking to are really diggin in on price.

Things do seem to be just marching along.

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Distressed Inventory Report 8-22-09

Overall there was a gradual reduction in overall inventory. Foreclosed homes did increase to 21 the most since this Report was instigated. The “Notice of Trustee Sale” declined to 65 the lowest number yet. It appears that some of the short sales are closing.

The MLS inventory inched up gradually with listed forclosed homes going up to 4 and the short sale inventroy held steady at 34. I think we will see more bank owned homes and short sales coming to the market as lenders look to sell this inventory.

Attach to the link below for the spreadsheet. I revised the ratios so they look different. Basically as the number gets smaller on the trustee sale/foreclosed ratio it indicates overall a stabilizing or improving situation. The other way I had the ratio it was counter intuitive as the number got bigger the situation it appeared the situation was detriorating when the exact opposite is true. East Bellevue Foreclosure Report 8-22-09

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Cross Currents

The stock market keeps gpoing up but down here at street level things feel different. While sales are up the buyer is cautious and if you have been following the Stats the per sq. ft. prices remain sticky. What I am seeing is a recovery but as strange as it may sound it is taking a top down approach. Sales of new upper end homes are picking up with over 5 sales in West Bellevue over 3 million in the June and July time frames. In addition the upper end new construction inventory in The Reserve at Newcastle is starting to get depleted. East Bellevue is seeing its new construction inventory also get depleted but it had fewer sales of new construction over a $1,000,000 in June and July than West Bellevue did over $3,000,000. Many of these upper end sales are being done all cash with no financing.

But it is a different story the farther down you go in price. East Bellevue still has great sales and the bulk of the sales is still under $500,000 but prices are really locked in on what people will pay. If you go to the southend of King County such as Kent, Covington, etc. there is another wave of foreclosures hitting and instead of stabilizing we are seeing further eroding of already low prices. In addition the local State Chartered banks are starting to have real problems and you will probably see more local banks going under. This will keep credit tight for those who have to borrow money. It just gives me a real uneasy feeling.

It appears that those buyers who have the resources to purchase without borrowing are starting to come into the market with a lot more confidence. Maybe the fact their stock assets have gone up is giving them more confidence. But let’s keep track and see if a top down recovery is really taking hold. This has many similarities to the early stages of the 1981 recovery.

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Weekly Scorecard 8-17-09

Well the inventory keeps inching up we are now at a total of 289 homes up 10 from from our dip two weeks ago at 279. The numbers of homes sold was a healthy 9 for the week but the prices were down a little to an average sq. ft. price of $210 per sq. ft. well under the $220 per sq. ft. range things have been stuck at for months. The average home price was under $500,000 again at $461,611. There appeared to be no bank owned homes or short sales.

There were four pendings this week. One was a waterfront lot so of the three the average per sq. ft. price was $201. One home was bank owned in pretty bad shape at $164 at sq. ft. which skewed the averages. It looks like the trend is sticky prices and gradually decreasing volumes.

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Distressed Inventory Report 8-15-09

The overall distressed inventory declined from 74 to 71 but the nature of the decline was interesting. There were no notices of any new Trustee Sales but four of the homes that were posted for Trustee Sale went to foreclosure to make for four new foreclosed homes. However overall the overall inventory was reduced by three and that decline came from those homes that had benn posted for a Trustee Sale.

In the MLS the decline of bank owned invetory went from three to two but again the decline was interesting with two of the three homes that had been listed as bank owned went “pending inspection” and one new bank listing was added. The remaining listing is a fixer that has been reduced to $249,850. It has showed up as sold “pending inspection” a couple of times so it apparently has some problems with failed inspections but could be some opportunity on this one. Click on the link for the spreadsheet East Bellevue Foreclosure Report 8-15-09

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Weekly Scorecard 8-10-09

We seem to be bumping along. The overall number of listings ticked up by to 284. This number seems to be fluctuating between 280 and 290. This week there were only three closed saled compared to the blowout of 21 last week. Also this week the closed sales came back to the more normal averages in terms of Price Per Sq. Ft. at $218 and the most expensive sale was $501,000 so the averages were back under $500,000 to $433,000. There were no expensive homes and this average looks more like a March number.

The big numbers this week were the pendings. Remember we only use the “Pending” category no “pending back Up” which ususally means a short sale or the other pending categories such as pedning inspection. Generally when a home goes pending the inspection and major review issues are done and it is waiting for the on the buyer’s financing to finish procesing and close. This week we had 11 Pendings a big increase from last week the averages were higher since only four homes were under $500,000. The per sq. ft. average was a whopping $276 and the average home sale price was $749,759. There were two homes over a $1,000,000; one was a waterfront on Lake Sammaish at a list price of $1,499,000.

In both the Pendings and the Solds there appear to be no short sales or bank owned inventory.

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