Snohomish County Market Report for February 2017

Snohomish County Real Estate News and Housing Market Report for February 2017

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Real estate market data for Snohomish County is provided by the North West MLS. To get your instant home valuation Click Here! You may be surprised what your home is worth in today’s market!

The real estate market in February 2017 has not slowed down at all! Most homes in Snohomish County that are priced under $300k are getting multiple offers. Especially when they are in a popular area. As you have probably been hearing for months, inventory is extremely low everywhere! Inventory is one of the main forces for driving up the home prices. Also, buyers are really getting serious about finding a house because of the talk about interest rates going up. Interest rates have gone up a little bit in the last couple months however they are still very low. When interest rates are low it helps a buyer be able to afford more of a house.

There was a total of 782 residential new listings and 212  new condo listings in Snohomish County last month. Homes are selling anywhere from 95% to 108% of list price. When you get up in the $1,000,000 price range homes are selling around 92% of the list price.

The average days a house is on the market is 51 days for all of Snohomish County. Depending on what city you live in your market time may be more or fewer days.  Bothell has the least market time in Snohomish County, around 39 days. Other cities in Snohomish County sell in about 10 to 15 days longer average market time. What really determines how fast your home will sell is what specific area you are in and if you price competitively.

February 2017 Snohomish County Home Prices

Snohomish County home prices have gone up 11.6% year to date. Almost all of the cities in Snohomish County have gone up in double digits within the last month. Bothell and Lake Stevens have the highest appreciation in their value this month at around 20% appreciation.  Low inventory is driving home prices up. It is also causing multiple offer situations because there is not a lot of options for buyers. This is hard for a buyer who needs closing costs paid on top of their offer because it is making them have to look at lower home prices than they are approved for. When there are multiple offers buyers usually will put their highest and best offer and a lot of times that is over asking price. Buyers worry about buying over asking price a lot of times however the low-interest rates help balance out the cost.

The average sales price in Snohomish County for residential last month was $442,697. For condo’s the average sales price was $290,350. There is new construction popping up in many cities and helping the average price of Snohomish County increase. Bothell has the highest average home price at $610,690.

• Bothell, WA has 87 active homes for sale.  The average price is $610,690 and the average time on market is 39 days.
• Everett, WA has 162 active homes for sale. The average price is $440,427 and the average time on market is 49 days.
• Snohomish, WA has 110 active homes for sale, the average price is $394,031 and the average time on market is 53 days.
• Lake Stevens, WA has 140 active homes for sale, the average price is $394,528 and the average time on market is 63 days.
• Marysville, WA has 194 homes for sale, the average price is $355,328 and the average time on market is 46 days.

Inventory All Time Low’s in Snohomish County

Inventory is still an issue in Snohomish County. Last month in January, we only had 1 month of inventory. Hopefully, the closer we get to spring we will start seeing more homes go on the market. When the inventory balances out it will help home prices to balance out a bit too, making homes more affordable. Each January, inventory has dropped quite a bit, so the winter historically is always lower in inventory. That means less competition for sellers and more competition for buyers. As you can see, typically the inventory rises in the spring and summer months.

We have been asked what causes the inventory to be so low. There are a few different factors that cause low inventory. One reason is sellers are still trying to recover from the market crash. They are just now starting to have enough equity to sell and not be short. Another reason is that sellers worry about not having a “plan b” if their house sells before they find one to buy or rent. Unfortunately, when you wait for more inventory that means more competition when selling.

There are a lot of buyers in the market right now. There are first-time home buyers, move-up buyers, people downsizing, and it has been enough time that people who lost their house in the recession can start buying again. All of these buyers are hurrying before the rates go up. They are also taking advantage of all of the great mortgage programs out there right now. So when a house comes on the market it goes pending pretty fast.

Renting in Snohomish County

Not only is there a shortage of inventory for buyers… there is also a shortage of homes for renters. Many people in Snohomish County are having troubles finding available rentals. The low inventory of rentals is also driving up rent prices. Right now, it can cost you less monthly to buy a house than paying rent every month. With first months rent, a deposit, and sometimes an extra pet deposit that is required you could use that money to buy a house.

New Homes Going Up in Snohomish County

There is new construction going up all over in Snohomish County!  As of right now, there are 204 active new construction homes for sale. Bothell, Lake Stevens, Monroe, Snohomish, and Stanwood seem to have the newest homes for sale that are available. Gold Bar has the cheapest new construction starting at $279,950 built by Goldmark Enterprises, Inc. The most expensive new home for sale is in Edmonds for $2,095,000 with over 5,000 square feet. Some of the builders you can see all over Snohomish County are Seattle Pacific, Quadrant Homes, DR Horton, and ACME Homes. The majority of new homes are in the move up buyer price range. There are only 24 active new homes for sale under $400,000 in all of Snohomish County.

New Construction in Snohomish County

Selling A Home In Snohomish County

There are only about 20 more days until it is officially spring season in Snohomish County! We can feel that spring is coming with how many people are getting ready to list their homes. If you are thinking about selling your home we highly suggest listing now before the big wave of homes come on the market. The less competition the better for home sellers. Right now so many homes are selling fast with multiple offers and going over ask price. If you wait until spring buyers will have a lot more choices and might not have to write as competitive of offers.

Lately, the Diemert Properties Group has helped multiple sellers get out of being underwater in their homes. Lots of sellers have come to us thinking that they would need to be a short sale due to owing a lot on their home. We have had the pleasure to help them sell their homes for enough money to not have a short sale on their credit. We have also helped a couple families avoid foreclosure. We would love to have a conversation with anyone that wants to know if we can help them avoid a short sale or foreclosure.

National Real Estate News

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