Saturday, December 16, 2006
Understanding The Current Market
Prudent Information for Buyers and Sellers
By: Jim Valentine, Buyer Specialist with Prowse & Company
I’d like to start by thanking everyone who gave me such wonderful, positive, appreciative feedback for last months Blog article entitled “Now Is The Best Time For Buyers To Negotiate! A Positive Outlook For Buyer’s In Kitsap Counties Housing Market.” This was my first article for Prowse & Companies web site but not my last. I’ve never received so many positive responses from so many people. Thank you!
From now on I'll try to do a mid-month market update article every month using basically the same format as my first article. If you'd like to see a statistic in a future article, just let me know via e-mail or phone 360-265-3176. Unfortunately the one piece of information I'd really like to provide, number of price reductions, is unavailable through the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) web site. The amount of price reductions I see every day on my Hotsheet is staggering, but the NWMLS doesn't follow price reductions.
So now let's get on to the fun stuff, current statistics. In this and future articles, I'll compare side-by-side the first 2 weeks of the current month with the first 2 weeks of the previous month. You can always scroll this page down to review last month's article.
| Area | STI 12/13 - 11/14 | No. of Active Listings |
|---|---|---|
| S. Kitsap W. of HWY 3 | 3 - 2 | 149 - 163 |
| S. Kitsap E. of HWY 3 | 3 - 3 | 91 - 110 |
| Port Orchard | 5 - 9 | 160 - 167 |
| Retsil/Manchester | 5 - 4 | 83 - 86 |
| Seabeck/Holly | 4 - 3 | 74 - 75 |
| Chico | 0 - 2 | 22 - 24 |
| Silverdale | 4 - 4 | 86 - 92 |
| W. Bremerton | 9 - 15 | 169 - 157 |
| E. Bremerton | 8 - 5 | 82 - 89 |
| E. Central Kitsap | 9 - 7 | 86 - 100 |
| Hansville | 0 - 4 | 28 - 33 |
| Kingston | 1 - 7 | 58 - 68 |
| Port Gamble | 1 - 2 | 15 - 15 |
| Lofall | 4 - 1 | 17 - 26 |
| Finn Hill | 1 - 10 | 46 - 48 |
| Poulsbo | 2 - 4 | 84 - 88 |
| Suquamish | 3 - 5 | 29 - 37 |
| Indianola | 0 - 0 | 26 - 29 |
| Totals | 62 - 93 | 1305 - 1586 |
It's still a very good Buyer's market; maybe not quite as good as last month because there are 281 fewer homes on the market, but it's still very good. Many Sellers are now to the point where they need an offer instead of wanting an offer. However, I'm predicting this is going to change very soon. Within the next 1-2 months, if Sellers don't flood the market, I think there will be a more even playing field. Why do I think this? How can I back this statement up? As a Buyer Agent I work exclusively with Buyers, over the past month or so many of the Buyers I've been working with have put buying on hold until just after the holidays. More Buyers in a month + fewer listings = more competition = the market evening itself out. Also, traditionally after the first of the year both Buyers and Sellers come out of hibernation and the market warms up. As I said before, it's still a great time to be a Buyer but expect a change in the very near future. We'll watch the numbers over the next couple of months to see if I'm right or wrong.
Interest rates are looking good. At this very moment the APR is 6.226% on a 30-Year and 5.999% on a 15-Year, both Conforming Loans. Next month we'll compare % numbers since I don't have any reference for last month. There's good news concerning interest rates, in their fourth straight meeting, the Feds decided to not raise rates. To check daily rate you can contact your lender or preview web sites such as this one - http://www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage/rates.
Whew, ok, that's enough for this month. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions and again, thank you to everyone that appreciated last month's Blog.
Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS
