Friday, August 04, 2006
Kitsap Real Estate Market Trends
Kitsap County Market Activity is softening more noticeably than earlier this year.
Residential Highlights…
Kitsap County’s residential inventory in July (1715 active listings) was up 5% from June. The July inventory was 48% higher than a year ago, down from 52% higher last month. Even the exception in Kitsap County’s rising inventory, Bainbridge Island, has a rising inventory with an 7% increase (it was up 13% last month). The number of YTD pending sales in July was down 10% compared to a year ago - about the same as last month. Note that Bainbridge Island pending sales YTD are down 23% from a year ago. The number of YTD closed sales is down by 8% compared to a year ago - a little worse than last month (when it was 6% lower). Bainbridge Island closed sales YTD are down 26% from a year ago. Inventory is up substantially while actual sales are behind last year’s numbers. If you look just at last month’s closed sales, they are down 15% compared to a year ago, and on Bainbridge Island last month’s sales were down 45%. It looks like the market is continuing to slow down.
Appreciation Continues…
Average sales prices continue to appreciate. The median sales price of $270,000 countywide was up 11% from a year ago, (13% last month). We expect appreciation to level off in the coming months, but since January the median sales price has risen 5.1%.
Seller Expectations…
The median list price has risen 6.7% since January, so you can see that the sellers and agents have expected prices to rise faster than actual results (closed sales have only risen 5.1%). The inventory turnover of homes on the market, as calculated by total number of homes on the market divided by number sold last month, is 4.4 months. A year ago this number was 2.5 months. Based on this a seller’s home has a 23% chance of selling in any given month now versus a 40% chance a year ago. Competitive pricing is much more of a factor now than last year.
Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS
