This first graph represents the average price per SQFT of homes that actually sold. It does not include homes that did not sell or are currently still active on the market.
There are a few interesting things to note about this graph. First, the average price per square foot has not consistently risen over the last three years. Over the course of time from June 2015 to June 2018 the average home sold value has risen from about $265/SQFT to roughly $370/SQFT but there were dips along the way. A hypothetical average 1500 SQFT home would have increased in value from $397,500 to $555,000 over this time period.
Second, the peak of this year was April 2018. Over the last few years, home values in May and June have outpaced April. It'll be interesting to see where the July and August numbers come in. Are we starting to see a cooling off or balancing of the real estate market?
The price that a seller lists their home for and what they actually sell it for can be two different things. Often people check out the asking price of their neighbors home, but never really follow up on what it truly sold for. Did the neighbor actually get their asking price or better?
Over the last three years we heard stories of multiple offers and wild price escalations of $100,000 or more over the seller's original asking price. While this was true and did happen, it was far from the norm.
This graph displays the percent of the seller's original listing price the average home sold for in West Seattle. A mark of 100 is 100% of the asking price. For example in April 2018 the average home sold for 104% of the original list price. So for example, the average $500,000 West Seattle would have sold for 4% over the asking price or $20,000.
The number of homes available for purchase will have a big impact on current real estate prices. It is a simple problem of supply and demand. When few homes are available and there is steady or growing demand prices will increase until demand falls. The opposite would happen ff the inventory increases and demand for those homes falls so will prices.
A healthy real estate market is considered to a 4-6 month supply of homes. This means that if no new homes came on the market, it would take 4-6 months for the current homes available to sell with the current rate of buyer demand. The months of inventory has been extremely low compared to the demand. In many cases over the last three years the inventory level has dropped below a one month supply. This off-balance is called a Seller's Market. It heavily favors the seller in a negotiation as the seller has something rare that many people want. If the supply was greater than six months, then it would be a Buyer's Market. Years 2008-2014 were Buyer Market years.
We are starting to see a increase in housing availability at a time that has had very low inventory over the last three years.
Use this quick home valuation estimate tool to instantly get an idea of your home's current market value. This powerful tool pulls from the sales data of recently sold homes in your neighborhood to establish a general market value for home.