Tag Archives: median

Sunday Night Stats – King County

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I started working on some June YOY stats over on my blog, but I think I’m going to give it a few more days to make sure all of the June closings are posted before making any comparisons over here besides the regular stats.  It is a holiday weekend, and I’m sure more than the normal amount of June 30 closings may be posted next week.

So far it looks like June 2008 residential sales in King County were 44% less than last year and 56% less than the high as to volume, and prices are slightly down both on a price per square foot basis and median sale price,  Condos also down a little over 50% as to volume both from last year and from the high, but while median price per square foot is down, median prices are up as is the median size of condos sold in June.  Instead of spending less, condo buyers are opting for getting more square footage at that lower price per square foot, and spending more to get the larger units.  Likely a move toward being able to hold longer.

I’ll do some 1st and 2nd quarter comparisons and 1st half YOY in a few days when I’m sure the majority of June 30 closings have been posted.  For now let’s update our regular weekly stats.  Inventory is down this week (selling faster than they are coming on market) in both the condo and residential categories.

King Couny Condos

2004 – 1Q – 1,694 – $188, 2Q 2,636 – $199, 3Q 2,540 – $196, 4Q 2,176 – $195

2005 – 1Q – 2,066 – $198, 2Q 2,925 – $209, 3Q 2,769 – $226, 4Q 2,266 – $224

2006 – 1Q – 1,956 – $242, 2Q 2.748 – $252, 3Q 2,737 – $269, 4Q 2,217 – $278

2007 – 1Q – 2,042 – $295, 2Q 2,862 – $302, 3Q 2,676 – $311, 4Q 1,618 – $294

2008 – 1Q – 1,258 – $299, 2Q 1,485 – $286 (2Q postings as of 7/06/08)

Changes in condo stats for this week

Active Listings: 3,958 – DOWN 89- median price $319,990 – MPPSF  asking $319 – DOM 64

In Escrow:  870 –  DOWN 43 – median asking price $295,000  – MPPSF asking $298  – DOM – 49

Sold YTD :  2,777 – UP 132 – median list price $292,000 – median sold price  $287,900 – median PPSF – $291 DOM 49  Note: only 35% selling in 30 days or less.

Residential King county

2004 – 1Q 5,650 – $152, 2Q 9,237 – $160, 3Q 8.737 – $163, 4Q 7,467 – $165

2005 – 1Q 6,402 – $173, 2Q 9,093 – $185, 3Q 9,131 – $192, 4Q 7,301 – $195

2006 – 1Q 5,596 – $201, 2Q 8,248 – $214, 3Q 7,771 – $216, 4Q 6,204 – $217

2007 – 1Q 5,304 – $222, 2Q 7,393 – $230, 3Q 7,944 – $229, 4Q 4,301 – $221

2008 – 1Q 3,640 – $219, 2Q 4,558 – $220 (2Q  – postings as of 7/06/08)

Changes in residential stats for this week

In Escrow: 2,760 – DOWN 103 – median asking price $435,495 – DOM 49 – MPPSF $209

SOLD YTD: 8,315-  UP 407- median asking $449,950 – median sold price $440,000- DOM 49 – MPPSF $218  Note: Only 36% selling in 30 days or less.

Actively for sale 11,903 – DOWN 284- MPPSF <$800,000 is $220- MPPSF >$800,000 is $336

Stats not compiled or published by NWMLS. (Required disclosure)

Do the Banks Own Seattle?

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[photopress:bank.jpg,full,alignright] The photo is of the Bank I worked in for twenty years. Lots of memories in there and lots of pranks pulled up on that balcony 🙂

I was perusing The Tim’s blog while writing something on my blog earlier today, and ran into the comments regarding King County median income and median home prices, again. I never seem to draw the same conclusions as other people. So I tested my thinking on the subject. From my way of thinking, at least SOME of the people have SOME money to put down when they purchase a house. So the median income is relative to the median mortgage used in the purchase, not the sale price. Isn’t it? So I calculated some random stats you might find interesting to prove that the Banks and Mortgage Companies don’t TOTALLY finance EVERY home purchase.

First I went to the high end and found that Seattle high end homes were financed at only 36% of value. That includes 40% of the randomly chosen properties sold in the last 3 or 4 months that were bought with cash and no mortgage at all. Mercer Island and high end Eastside, like Clyde Hill and Medina, financed at a higher rate of 49.5%. Both represented about $28 million dollars worth of homes purchased. Seattle financed $9,750,000 of their $28,000,000 purchase prices while Mercer Island, Clyde Hill and Medina financed $13,500,000 of their $28,000,000. Still plenty of equity though, so NO, the banks do not own the McMansions 🙂

One thing I found that was surprising to me up in the high end is that one of the most expensive homes sold was sold all cash…not surprising. The occupant at the time of sale was a tenant! That cracked me up. Why would someone rent a Six Million Dollar house? Oh, well…just a random observation.

Then a went down to the $475,000 to $500,000 price range, more in the median range and pulled through separate market segments. South Seattle was 90% financed. North Seattle was 85% financed and Eastside was only 70% financed. Why would the Eastside have more people with more money to put down on their homes? Easy. Cheap condos. The condo market was really cheap two to three years ago, and is still relatively cheap by Seattle standards. So people who bought those instead of renting 3 to 5 years ago had built up enough equity to put an average of 30% down on their single family home purchases.

Just random stats that I found interesting. The banks own 90% of South Seattle, 85% of North Seattle, 70% of Eastside and only 35%-50% of the most expensive homes. At least the ones that everyone who is reading King County median income/median home price stats are talking about, those bought recently.