What a year! Wally’s 2020 Real Estate Review
[Guest post by Wally Cruz, local real estate extraordinaire with a contribution from colleague Randy Starkel. They can be reached at [email protected] and Randy at [email protected]]
Wow, 2020 what? We started the year with the loss of a basketball superstar and ended the year with planets aligning and creating the look of a true superstar. A pandemic brought the world to a screeching halt. What didn’t it do? Slow down the real estate market! It got us pretty frenzied. People quickly realized that their current life situations would not work in this new environment. Mortgage rates were also at record lows, which influenced the change. Our problem was that we lacked salespeople. Let’s dive into the numbers for a minute.
According to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service:
King County had 55,218 entries in 2019, compared to 37,814 in 2020. This represents a 31.50% decrease in residential and condo / inventory entries. If you remove condos, King County had 42,304 homes in 2019, and it was down 40.02% to 25,373 in 2020.
Now let’s get local; The best way to explain how this significant drop in inventory is affecting Snoqualmie Valley is to use the houses in the Snoqualmie Valley school district. In 2019, the median sales price of a home in the Snoqualmie Valley School District was $ 731,500. In 2020 that price rose to $ 820,050, an increase of $ 88,550, or 12%.
Randy Starkel, a local RE / MAX Integrity broker, said, “Last year has been a very interesting year for real estate. With all the potential challenges in the market, it’s been an exceptional year selling a home. Mortgage rates kept buyers in the game and built much stronger demand than would otherwise be expected. “
Historically, the winter months and the beginning of the year slow the market down. I often tell customers, “Let’s wait until winter.” Well, that’s far from it. If the beginning of 2021 signals what’s to come, we are facing another strong year in real estate. I have personally seen numerous customers being outbid by thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Photo: Mary Miller
Randy mentioned, “With so many people adjusting to new work regulations … I would expect it to be a great year for people considering taking a step this year!”
I never want anyone to doubt their ability to buy a home. So don’t see this as a dream killer item. Personally, I think that with home values increasing and the flexibility to work from home, inventories will increase in 2021 compared to 2020. If you have been thinking of selling or changing recently, it is better to contact your local real estate expert sooner rather than later. There will be many sellers who will benefit from this opportunity in all price ranges. This could at some point lead to a slowdown in the market due to increased inventory levels. Someone could have more than a few hours to decide whether or not to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a home.
Speaking of moving, let me use this moment to share a big change with our RE / MAX Integrity office. In February we are moving from our current location on Main Ave to the office next to Huxdotter Coffee in 101 W Park St Suite C. Hopefully in 2021 we can open our doors to the public, talk about local real estate, and buy some fantastic coffee next door.
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