Granted, I missed the pre-NWMLS stats window, but I’d still like to post the stats preview charts for May. Most of the charts below are based on broad county-wide data that is available through a simple search of King County and Snohomish County public records. If you have additional stats you’d like to see in the preview, drop a line in the comments and I’ll see what I can do.
First up, total home sales as measured by the number of “Warranty Deeds” filed with King County:
Another big gain in May, shooting to a new two-year high and almost a five-year high. The last time warranty deeds came in above 3,000 was October 2007.
Here’s a look at Snohomish County Deeds, but keep in mind that Snohomish County files Warranty Deeds (regular sales) and Trustee Deeds (bank foreclosure repossessions) together under the category of “Deeds (except QCDS),” so this chart is not as good a measure of plain vanilla sales as the Warranty Deed only data we have in King County.
Not quite as big a boost in Snohomish, but still coming in above last year.
Next, here’s Notices of Trustee Sale, which are an indication of the number of homes currently in the foreclosure process:
Both counties ticked up month to month, with King County turning in the higheest level since last August. Snohomish fell short of the high set in March.
Here’s another measure of foreclosures for King County, looking at Trustee Deeds, which is the type of document filed with the county when the bank actually repossesses a house through the trustee auction process. Note that there are other ways for the bank to repossess a house that result in different documents being filed, such as when a borrower “turns in the keys” and files a “Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure.”
Slight uptick after five straight months of declines.
Lastly, here’s an update of the inventory charts, updated with the inventory data from the NWMLS.
Although King County got a tiny boost in listings, Snohomish continued to fall.
Stay tuned later this month a for more detailed look at each of these metrics as the “official” data is released from various sources.
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Thanks for posting this. I was missing it.
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I’m Confused Tim
The definition of Warranty Deeds is:
“…A general warranty deed is a type of deed where the grantor (seller) guarantees that he or she holds clear title to a piece of real estate and has a right to sell it to you. The guarantee is not limited to the time the grantor owned the property—it extends back to the property’s origins…”
http://homebuying.about.com/cs/realestateglossary/g/generalwarranty.htm
I’m sure there’s a dim connection to any change in this Warranty Deed data to “possible” Seattle Home sales; but to infer this somewhat unrelated data count infers future sales increase at all is questionable too. Sales increases aren’t always based on squeaky clean units all the time either [i.e., the best bargains for savvy investors are listed with leans that can be paid off with big profits anyway]. Ask Donald Trump.
Author Unknown:
“To achieve the impossible, one must think the absurd; to look where everyone else has looked, but see what no else has seen.”
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Sales up, inventory down.
Does that mean properties are selling as fast as they come on the market?
Is there a way to calculate the rate of listings to sales during the course of a month?
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RE: softwarengineer @ 2 – I’m not following what you’re saying there, but a statutory warranty deed is the deed used in most arm’s length transaction. In Washington the warranties granted by a statutory warranty deed are covered by this statute:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=64.04.030
They are not expressly stated in the deed.
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By David Losh @ 3:
There’s also expired listings, cancelled listings, sale fail release situations, etc.
If you go to Matrix you can see those numbers for a period as long as a week, and place some restrictions on the data (e.g. limit it to King County Residential). The thing is though, the longer the period the more likely it is one property will show up 2 or more times.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 4 –
I believe that what is confusing SWE is that using a statutory warranty deed doesn’t necessarily mean that there aren’t any liens or encumbrances on the property. As Kary knows, but SWE may not, if there are liens or other encumbrances, a statutory warranty is commonly still used but the encumbrances are listed in the deed (often in an exhibit attached to and incorporated in the deed) as exceptions to the title granted by the deed and to the warranties that the deed provides. The exceptions are generally certain items like easements that are copied right off the title insurance commitment, but can include monetary encumbrances like a deed of trust or other monetary lien that the buyer is purchasing the property “subject to” or in some cases agreeing to “assume.”
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