One Word to Describe Kenmore Home Sales in June – Underwhelming
Picture courtesy of mac steve on Flickr.com
The most recent press release regarding June Home Sales by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) seems cautiously optimistic. I prefer to use the term “underwhelming.”
“Encouraging” seemed to be a common response from brokers upon reviewing the June activity summaries from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. The report shows inventory continues to shrink, pending sales increased more than 19.5 percent from a year ago, and median prices system-wide are up 4.4 percent since January. (NWMLS July 6th press release)
But what happened to actual closed sales?
“Viewed separately, the volume of closed sales of single family homes nearly equaled year-ago totals (4,463 closings last month, down from 4,516 for June 2008). Condo sales were off nearly 21 percent, dropping from 863 closings to 683.” (NWMLS July 6th press release)
Preliminary June Kenmore Home Sales
I’m awaiting the publication of my monthly statistical graphs for the June figures but for now I wanted to provide you with the data I’ve looked-at:
Property sales: June 2009
There were 22 single family home and condo sales in Kenmore last month (plus one vacant land sale). This is almost equal to the 25 sales in May and suggests that our local market remains stagnant. Some interesting facts about the sales:
- Homes sold at 91% of their original list price
- The average days-on-market is around 150 days
- 10% of the sold homes were short sales
- The median price of a home in Kenmore is $382,500
There is nothing surprising about these figures given the fact that the larger “macroeconomic” factors have not changed significantly. I believe the major contributor to sluggish sales boils down to the uncertainty surrounding the job market in the Pacific Northwest. Until consumers feel more secure in their jobs, they are not going move or purchase a new home.
