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Health & Fitness

Kirkland Real Estate Sales Up--Deja Vu All Over Again?

The Kirkland real estate market continues to signal improvement and feels like the boom market of a few years ago.

KIRKLAND REAL ESTATE activity continued at strong levels in February, based on statistics just published by the Multiple Listing Service. Pending sales (contracted, not yet closed) for single family homes increased 41.9% over January levels and were up 17.9% over February 2011 levels. Closed sales were also up from February and for the year.

Inventory levels have reduced to 2.2 months based on pending sales, indicating that we are back to a seller's market (3-6 months is considered a balanced market). The average sales price, however, continued to trend down to $470,000.  This may be the result of a higher level of lower-priced homes, however, as there is still strong investor activity in the lower end of the single-family home market.

Condo activity was also strong, with pending sales higher by 13.2% from January and 4.9% from January 2011.  Inventory, which was at 11.8 months in December 2010, was down to 3.0 months in February 2012. The average condo sales price was $258,000 for February 2012, up from $235,000 a month earlier, but lower year-over-year.

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National headlines touting strong real estate activity are helping the Kirkland market. Buyers say they feel that we've reached a market bottom and want to take advantage of low interest rates and low prices. We are seeing good open house activity, and homes in good condition are selling with multiple offers, some at or above asking prices.

That should lead to higher prices soon. Many agents say that the market feels like it did during the boom times in 2005-06. Is it deja vu all over again?

Find out what's happening in Kirklandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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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.

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