Kitsap regional markets in March
We have published this article monthly for over a year to explore some of the significant variations in the Kitsap Real Estate market. We try to breakout the new construction sales from the resale market in Poulsbo to give a more accurate presentation of conditions there. The descriptive comments for each area below cite year-to-date numbers.
Bainbridge Island Real Estate
Residential homes on Bainbridge Island were selling for a median price of about $647,000 at the end of March, a drop of 3.4% from a year ago. The March median price for closed sales was 4.1% higher than last month’s median price of $670,000 (this is the second consecutive significant increase in median sales price, suggesting that at this level of sales there are buyers who are willing to pay a higher price because they need to move). Kitsap County median prices have fallen 5.3% over the past year. The YTD number of Bainbridge closed sales is down 51% from a year ago, and the YTD number of pending sales is down 54%. The number of closed sales is down 26% Countywide from a year ago. The number of active listings on Bainbridge (251) is up 39% from a year ago. The inventory turnover (total homes on the market divided by number sold last month) is 15.7 months, a significant increase from last month. Bainbridge Island is a strong buyers market.
Bremerton Real Estate
Statistics we refer to are for that part of Bremerton encompassing the downtown core and west to Kitsap Lake. The market for other parts of Bremerton and its suburbs should have approximately similar trends. Homes in Bremerton were selling for a YTD median price of about $175,300 at the end of March, about 14% lower than a year ago. The March median price for closed sales was 6.7% lower than the median for last month. Kitsap County median prices have fallen 5.3% over the past year. The YTD number of closed sales is down 32% from a year ago (compared to a Countywide drop of 26%), and the YTD number of pending sales is down 32% from last year. The number of active listings (251) is up 37% from a year ago. The inventory turnover (total homes on the market divided by number sold last month) is 16.7 months, a sharp increase from last month’s 5.8 month turnover rate. Despite a significant drop in prices, sales have slowed in Bremerton from last month.
North Kitsap Real Estate
Using the example of Kingston - the largest housing market in North Kitsap - homes were selling for a median price of about $355,000 at the end of March, down about 1% from a year ago and up about 6.3% from last month. Kingston prices fluctuate more than some of the other markets because of the lower listing and sales volume. Kitsap County median prices have fallen 5.3% over the past year. The YTD number of closed sales is down 39% from a year ago, and the YTD number of pending sales is down 53%. The number of closed sales is down 26% Countywide from a year ago. The number of active listings in Kingston (93) is up 41% from a year ago and up 11 percent since last month. The inventory turnover (total homes on the market divided by number sold last month) is 18.6 months - only 5 sales closed in Kingston last month.
Poulsbo Real Estate
Statistics we refer to are for that part of Poulsbo encompassing the downtown core, from the head of Liberty Bay southeast to Ne-Si-Ka Bay, including parts north to Sawdust Hill Rd. The market for other parts of Poulsbo and its suburbs should have approximately similar trends. Homes in Poulsbo were selling for a median price of about $349,006 at the end of March, down about 7.2% from a year ago. Kitsap County median prices have fallen 5.3% over the past year. The number of closed sales YTD has fallen 3% compared to last year (a sharp decrease from last month’s plus 23%), and the number of YTD pending sales has increased 7%. This compares to a drop of 26% since a year ago for Kitsap County as a whole. A large portion of the currently pending sales is from presales at one moderately priced new construction development - homes that never appeared as active listings. The Poulsbo listing inventory (160) has risen by 47% compared to a year ago. The inventory turnover (total homes on the market divided by number sold last month) is 7.3 months. Calculating inventory turnover in this manner is artificially low since a number of the new construction homes closing did not show as active listings. Of 48 current pending sales, 43 are new construction. Using only the 100 non-new construction active listings in Poulsbo and the 10 non new construction sales closed last month, the inventory turnover would be 10 months.
Silverdale Real Estate
Homes in Silverdale were selling for a median price of about $330,000 at the end of March, up about 4% from a year ago. However, the YTD median dropped about 15% from its value last month, so the distribution of sales is becoming more like in past years for this market. The March median closed sale of $295,000 was 11% less than a year ago. Kitsap County median prices have fallen 5.3% over the past year. The number of YTD closed sales was down 42% from a year ago, compared to a drop in closed sales of 26% for the County as a whole. The number of pending sales YTD is down 37% from a year ago. The number of active listings in Silverdale (133) is 25% higher than a year ago. The inventory turnover (total homes on the market divided by number sold last month) is 14.8 months, a sharp increase from 9.8 months in February.
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