Sellers’ market continues in Island County

The real estate sellers’ market continues in Western Washington and Island County.  Windermere Real Estate’s quarterly economic report, “The Gardner Report”, has just been published.  The data for home sales in the third quarter of 2017 shows that Western Washington, including Whidbey Island, remains entrenched in a strong sellers’ market.  Island county shows a 10.3% increase in average sales price from the third quarter of 2016.  That means that a home that sold for $250,000 in October 2016 would have sold for $275,000 this October.  During this time period, the average days on market (that is, the time from the property going up for sale and when a purchase and sale agreement was signed) dropped to 42 days.

Matthew Gardner, Windermere’s chief economist, predicts that interest rates will remain low, but may begin rising moderately in 2018.  Of course this is the same prediction we heard a year ago, and interest rates remain at near-historic lows.

The main contributing factor to the strong sellers’ market is a lack of available inventory.  More people needing homes than people selling homes creates a competitive market for buyers, especially first time buyers.  Buyers can take solace in the fact that this lack of inventory is not likely to change in the near future, which historically has meant home values will continue to rise. In other words,  it’s still safe to buy!

Gardner Report Market Speedometer – Oct 2017

If you own real estate I encourage you to contact me for a Current Market Analysis of your property.  You may be surprised at the amount of equity you currently have.

Those interested in reading the entire Gardner report can find it HERE.