By The Tim on October 6th, 2009 at 12:48 PM · 88 Comments
Time for the monthly reporting roundup, where I read all the local paper rehashes of the NWMLS press release so you don’t have to.
First up, an excerpt from the NWMLS press release itself: Northwest MLS brokers agree "there’s a lot to be optimistic about"
“There’s a lot to be optimistic about,” according to one director of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service upon reviewing summary statistics for September’s housing activity. The report shows a big jump in pending sales compared to a year ago (up almost 27 percent), continued drops in inventory (down 17.7 percent versus a year ago) and brisk demand for homes at the lower end of the price spectrum.
…
Joe Spencer, president and COO of John L. Scott Real Estate, estimates up to 10 percent of pending sales do not close because they’re caught in the short sale cycle. Still, he comments, “There is a lot to be optimistic about.” He cites interest rates that are now in the high four percents as bordering “on being epic” and the federal tax credit as stimulants to the market.
…
Activity at open houses is reported to be brisk in many areas…
Sweet! The return of the ever-popular “open house traffic” metric of market health. I love it. Also classic is the heavy focus on the pending sales stat, which has been rendered practically meaningless in the past year. FYI, that 10% estimate is way too low. I’d put it around 20-25%.
Anyway, click below to read the rest of this month’s reporting roundup, in which the incredible surge and uplifting rally is detailed by the enthusiastic local press corps.
[Read more →]
Categories: News
Tags: Beeson, Benbow, Boone, bottom-calling, Crellin, Everett_Herald, JohnLScott, Olympian, Pryne, reporting_roundup, Roberts, Rolph, Seattle_PI, Seattle_Times, Stang, Tacoma_Tribune
By The Tim on September 7th, 2009 at 6:00 AM · 48 Comments
Thanks to PAX and the holiday weekend, our regular schedule is all messed up. So here’s the reporting roundup a couple days late.
First up, an excerpt from the NWMLS press release: Northwest MLS brokers report brisk activity, multiple offers, "irrational delays" by lenders
Pending sales around Western Washington during August jumped nearly 21 percent from a year ago and inventory dropped more than 18 percent, according to new figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. MLS member-brokers say those indicators, along with signs of stabilizing prices, set the stage for brisk activity in the next few months as first-time buyers try to take advantage of the Nov. 30 deadline for tax credits.
“The typical August cool down in the market did not happen this year,” observed NWMLS director Kathy Estey, managing broker at John L. Scott’s office in downtown Bellevue. She said agents are busy with both first-time and move-up buyers and they’re reporting multiple offers on homes priced up to $700,000.
Brokers reported 7,539 pending sales (offers made and accepted but not yet closed) for August, up 20.7 percent from a year ago. That volume outgained July’s total by 260 transactions.
In the four-county Puget Sound region, pending sales of single family homes and condominiums (combined) surged 25.7 percent from a year ago.
I’m only going to say this once in this post, since I get tired of repeating myself. The “pending sales” statistic published by the NWMLS has become virtually useless. It has of little to no use in reliably predicting actual closed sales volume this year.
That said, given that the NWMLS led off their press release with the big headline pending sales nonsense, it is (sadly) no surprise that a number of lazy local media outlets dutifuly repeated their breathless claims.
Read on to find out which local press outlets were basically just press release rehash factories this month, and which ones spent some time to do some actual reporting.
[Read more →]
Categories: News
Tags: Beeson, Boone, Crellin, Everett_Herald, JohnLScott, Kearsley, Olympian, Pryne, reporting_roundup, Rolph, Scott, Seattle_PI, Seattle_Times, Spratt, Tacoma_Tribune
