TREETOP IS FOR SALE

We are continuing to see new listing activity rise. This is likely a reflection of Sellers who chose to wait until they could see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel and also Sellers who recognize that with low interest rates and excessive demand, now is a great time to sell. New listings in April were up 52% from April of 2020! But wait, there's more - pending sales are up 69% from last year! April 2020 was the beginning of uncertainty related to what COVID would mean for the real estate market. Closed sales took a big jump in April compared to March, so again we are seeing demand outpacing supply. With this type of activity, I worry that Sellers will get greedy, which can contribute to a market slowdown. But we continue to see homes selling for 4-5% above list price!

While Median and Average list prices are up from last year, they took a big dip in February from January. I expect this is an anomaly, and we will see average prices to climb higher in the coming months. Days on market were also up in February, but with less than one month's supply of inventory and no expected influx of lots of new listings, I expect the days on market to drop in the coming months.

I've been reading that December, not surprisingly, experienced a slight slowdown in the real estate market. Between the holidays and COVID, this is not the least bit surprising. But as you'll see from this December market report for Whatcom County, the same is not true locally. While new listings are up over 30%, closed sales are up 18%, and pending sales (a more current reflection of Buyer interest/activity) are up 7%. But the most amazing number is the average/median price increase in ONE YEAR: 24-26%!Low interest rates can't keep up with those price increases, to make homes more affordable. But speaking of low interest rates, the average 30-year mortgage hit an all-time low of 2.65% this week, according to data from Freddie Mac. But, as Inman News reports: "The forces behind plummeting rates are also starting to shift, according to Khater, so economists shouldn’t abandon the position that rates will climb in 2021 after one contrary week."

New listings are relatively unchanged, compared to a year ago. Sales continue to outpace the prior year, as many Buyers are choosing Whatcom County to be their home. This trend should continue, as pending sales are also up, compared to last October. Average days on market was already low, but dropped nearly 36% to 27 average days on market, which is remarkable. And the average sales price is 18% higher than October of 2020.

What an August! In spite of new listings being down nearly 12%, pending sales were up over 37%. Remember that Pending Sales is a reflection of consumer confidence. Not surprisingly, homes are on the market for less time with homes selling higher than list price - many agents can tell you how they have experienced bidding wars. All this activity has netted a 50% drop in home inventory in Whatcom County in one month!

Despite COVID, home prices have increased over 13% in the last year.

It's not surprising that new listings are down - reports show that Sellers are delaying listing their homes, due to COVID concerns. In addition, Sellers are worried about finding a home to move to after their own home is sold, due to very limited inventory.

This is at the same time that demand has increased in Whatcom County.