Health & Fitness
Kirkland Home Prices Rise in November as Inventory Reduces
Robust Kirkland home sales and a lack of inventory led to higher home sales prices in November.
Santa arrived early for many Kirkland home sellers in November. Strong demand led to bidding wars for updated homes in some neighborhoods. Many homes are selling at or above their asking prices.
Statistics just released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service revealed strong sales numbers in November. Single-family pending sales (contracted, not closed) rose 17.6% over October levels and were 11% higher than November 2011.
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The same was true for pending condo sales, with an 18% increase for the month and were more than double the level of one year ago.
But inventory levels are down to multi-year lows of 1.3 months for single-family homes and less then one month for condos.
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Strong demand and low inventory resulted in higher median home prices. Single family homes saw a rise of 18% over November 2011 levels to $404,000. The median price for condos rose to $197,000 last month, a 49% increase over the level one year ago. These price increases are due, in part, to the large number of homes sold in the lower price points a year ago and do not mean that homes are selling at commensurately higher increases.
As word spreads that home prices are rising, sellers should bring more inventory to market. If this is true, 2013 promises to be a good year for real estate, at least for home sellers. A nice gift from Santa indeed!
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Michelle Spohrer is a managing broker with John L. Scott Real Estate on the Eastside who focuses on Kirkland. See her Facebook page here.