Bellevue Real Estate » East Bellevue

Weekly Scorecard 3-7-11

George Thurtle — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:09:07 +0000

The sales are taking their usual seasonal upturnb but not the inventories. South Bellevue did finally see its inventories rise by 12 homes. The other areas were flat to down a little. East Bellevue dropped to 159 homes which is a ridiculously low number. The sales however are starting to surge with the usual seasonal regularity. Again South B ellevue was the winner with 14 sold homes and 14 pending sales. This is a pretty brtisk sales rate. The inventory is starting to fet pretty well picked over and the new inventory comes to the market it is gemerally in the lower prioce ranges and in many cases needs some work. I am starting to see some very short sale times for homes that have been brought to the marklet which are well well priced and have been redone inside and out. Many sellers look like they are updating their kitchens and bathrooms in order to obtain a better price. If the home needs repairs the price really gets hammered.

The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 3-7-11

Weekly Scorecard 12-13-10

George Thurtle — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:51:41 +0000

The sales volumes are pretty high for this time of year except for west Bellevue which had a large number of sales but no pending sales and the pending sales for West Bellevue have been done the last couple of weeks. However the other areas have both a higher volume of sold and pending sales which could mean this market is settling out at a higher overall volume now that the sold homes and pending sales are starting to track a little more.

The inventorues fell like a stone this week. don’t know if that is due to sales or seasonal conditions. Later in the next month we should see inventories start rising but my gut feel is they will peak at a lower level this year than last year. The other notable trend is the amount of highend inventory closing. A waterfront in West Bellevue closed for $9,500,000 and you can see by the South Bellevue average home sale prices that some more expensive inventory was sold.

The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 12-13-10

Weekly Scorecard 11-22-10

George Thurtle — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 15:43:11 +0000

This week the amount of inventory continues to decline however the pending sales and sold home numbers seem to be diverging some. In East Bellevue there were 11 sold homes and only 4 pending sales. In South Bellevue the same trend 15 sold homes and 7 pending sales. West Bellevue was different with 4 sold homes and 5 pending sales. Given the time of year it is hard to determine if this is seasonal or a developing market trend. However West Bellevue does show some underlying strength. Also there were two sales not included in the West Bellevue numbers this week since they were essentially land sales. One was a waterfront lot on Evergreen Point for over $3,000,000 and a view lot on Clyde Hill with a small tear down for $1,350,000. This again is showing strength in West Bellevue with the purchase of very expensive vacant land parcels to build high end custom homes.

The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 11-22-10

Weekly Scorecard 10-18-10

George Thurtle — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 18:54:02 +0000

Finally getting caught up. The volumes are down this week and we will have to wait to see if this is seasonal or if the overall level of demand is declining. The pendings and the solds appear to be coming in line so the true market after the tax credit expiration is starting to resolve. Overall values have appeared to remain steady but volumes are down. The inventories have leveled off and are no longer increasing but this time of year we will usually start to see a decrease but that does not appear to be happening.

The individual sales were interesting with two waterfront homes on Lake Sammamish going pending. That is why average price and per sq. ft. numbers are higher. Also in West Bellevue it appears a couple more tear downs have sold. The tear dwon market appears to be making a solid come back in West Bellevue. Also there appeared to be no distressed inventory sold this week either bank owned or short sale.

The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 10-18-10

Weekly Scorecard 8-30-10

George Thurtle — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:16:41 +0000

Well I seem to keep getting further behind but finally got to the weekly numbers. The schizophrenia continues a high number of closed sales and low numbers of pending sales. West Bellevue was the best example with 11 closed sales and no pending sales. There was one bright spot in West Bellevue a new construction home closed for $3,000,000 that is almost one a week and they is not bank owned. As we discussed earlier there is very little or no new construction inventory over $1,000,000 since prices are well below production cost still. There is however a number of custom homes started since those individuals who would like a new home are finding little or no inventory to select from.

In addition it appears inventories have peaked. They are not dropping but the numbers are not rising. The issue however is that in the next few months with the same amount of inventory and half of the sales than previous months what will happen to pricing. I am starting to see a lot of pricing pressure; particularly for short sales.

The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 8-30-10

Distressed Inventory Report 8-28-10

George Thurtle — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:58:12 +0000

The inventory of distressed homes does appear to be peaking. There is a lot of turn over in the homes with Notice of Trustee Sale with many of those numbers falling; particularly in South Bellevue and East Bellevue. You can most likely read into this that more banks are approving short sales. The only area which appears to be having a continuing increae in inventory is West Bellevue. Both the number of bank owned and NYS homes were up and gradually continue to creep up.

If the distressed inventory is peaking that will be good for the market overall. However now the big concern in the next couple of months is a negative news cycle as Wall Street figures out that it was overly optimistic about the economy and comes to the realization that this cycle is not the traditional recovery cycle they are used to.

The spreadsheet is here: Bellevue Foreclosure Report 8-28-10

Weekly Scorecard 8-23-10

George Thurtle — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:04:57 +0000

The numbers are somewhat interesting. It appears inventories are peaking except for West Bellevue where they continue to climb. The fundamentals of the West Bellevue market look a little weak with rising inventories and very week pending sales in the last four weeks. The closed sales look OK but those pending sales numbers are not good for the amount of the inventory and its average price. The pending sales in East Bellevue and South Bellevue are also down but their inventory numbers do not appear to be rising. The closed sales numbers for South Bellevue were very impressive.

At some point in time the gap between the pending sales and the closed sales needs to narrow in order to see where this market will settle in at.

The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 8-24-10

Weekly Scorecard 8-17-10

George Thurtle — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:04:18 +0000

It appears inventories are peaking and we are seeing closed sales come more in line with in MLS Area 530 (East Bellevue). The other two areas that still have a big spread between closed sales and pending sales. the disturbing faactor is that while inventories have peaked, if you look at pending sales they are by half. The result is that either inventories will need to be reduced or you may see another round of price cuts. Nothing like the spring of 2009 but if the inventories remain where they are and sales do not pick up then this fall and winter could see a slow sagging market.

The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 8-17-10

Weekly Scorecard 8-9-10

George Thurtle — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:40:46 +0000

Things appear to be settling down. Inventories are peaking and the sales are lower after the expiration of the tax credit. Basically over the last few months inventory have risen and the sales volume has fallen. If you take a look at the monthly statistics this trend is very noticeable on the graphs. In looking at the spreadsheet attached you will see that the pending sales and closed sales are starting to come in line more with closed sales and pending sales roughly beginning to correspond. In my opinion this is an indication of the underlying market after the tax credit. In general lower volumes as the market seeks to be replenished with new buyers.

The pricing appears stable with no real clear trend either up or down. The indication here is if you are a seller you know where the price needs to be to sell and overall there are fewer buyers as indicated by the closed and pending sales. In addition in looking at the sales it is very evident the homes that are in condition or if older remodeled with new appliances and baths are the onesselling quickly. Some of the FNMA bank homes have had to take steep discounts to under $300,000. That has not been seen for a long time.

The spreqadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 8-9-10

Weekly Scorecard 7-19-10

George Thurtle — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:46:44 +0000

Inventories appear to have peaked but the sales keep occuring at a pretty good clip. What is especially notable this week is the number of sales over $1,000,000. East Bellevue had a closing over a $1,000,000 on a resale home this is a first in over a year. West Bellevue had 10 closed sales; of those sales 5 were over a million. There was a waterfront that went for $5,000,000 and a new construction home in West Bellevue went for over $3,000,000. All of these sales were arms length sales and were not short sales or bank owned properties. It is evident that the market is looking for luxury homes and there is very little new construction to fill the gap. The buyer’s choice is either to pay up or build a custom home.The average per sq. ft. price in West Bellevue has been over $400 three weeks out of the last four. This is a trend given the recent sales in my opinion. South Bellevue also had a couple of sales over a $1,000,000 although its per sq. ft. prices seem stuck but the average sale price are moving up. It is very evident the more expensive homes are starting to move.

The spreadsheet is here: Weekly scorecard 7-19-10