Market report from local RE

[Jazen]

Seems like Kitsap is booming.


Kitsap Real Estate Market Report - May 2007
Sales at Prowse and Company seem to be picking up after a month where many of our sellers chose to reduce price. The statistics in some ways belie the appearance of a very sluggish market that confronts us. The Wall St Journal this week reported that the listing inventory nationwide was rising at an uncharacteristic pace, and that the greatest rise in the country was in Seattle. The Kitsap County listing inventory has continued to rise sharply for the 3rd month in a row, and inventory turnover has fallen - it will now take 7.2 months to deplete the current inventory in Kitsap County. This rise in inventory is expected to put downward pressure on prices. Year to date pending sales are down slightly, and the number of closed sales is down about 10%. Pending and closed sales in Poulsbo are booming, with a significant portion of these coming from new construction. The Bainbridge Island market continues to improve also. Median sales prices have continued to rise despite the weakness of the market.

Residential Highlights
Kitsap County residential inventory in May (2199 listings) was up 12% from April. Inventory rose 13% in April and 6% in March. The May inventory was 44% higher than last year. Inventory levels in Kitsap County have not been this high since 1997. The number of year to date pending sales was down 5% compared to a year ago - down from minus 2% last month. Countering the downward trend, Poulsbo YTD pending sales are up 58% compared to a year ago. Of 56 current pending sales in Poulsbo, 39 are new construction, and most of these are presales that never appeared as active listings. Bainbridge Island year to date pending sales are up 14% from a year ago (they were up 2% last month). The number of YTD closed sales is minus 10% compared to a year ago - down from minus 9% last month. Poulsbo YTD closed sales are up 31% from a year ago. 16% of this year's closed sales are new construction - mostly at Poulsbo Place II. Confounding the seeming hot market appearance in Poulsbo is that the days on the market for closed sales are 152 days - the longest wait to sell in Kitsap County. Poulsbo's active listing inventory is actually lower this year than last - despite the huge inventory gains elsewhere. You may recall that the number of Poulsbo closed sales in 2006 were down about 25% compared to 2005 - the biggest decline in Kitsap County last year. Bainbridge Island closed sales were up 11% from a year ago.

Prices are rising...
The YTD median sales price of $289,141 rose 1.4% April after remaining steady for 3 months. This is up 8.7% from a year ago. It's still important for sellers to be striving to be most competitively priced among their competition.

Seller expectations...
The median list price for the year rose 1.4% to $354,950 after remaining steady for more than 3 months. This is about 4.7% higher than a year ago - a gap that continues to narrow. The inventory turnover (total homes on the market divided by number sold last month) is 7.2 months, up from 6.6 months in April. A year ago this number was 4.3 months, and that was already reflecting a market slowdown from its 2005 levels. Today a seller has a 14% chance of selling his/her home in a given month, and that percentage is even lower if you come from a community with new construction, since new construction sales tend to displace residential resales. Competitive pricing is essential, and almost every offer we see presented is negotiating on price.

The statistics for pending sales varied for different parts of the County. Areas where sales were depressed the most last year (Bainbridge, Poulsbo) appear to have benefited most in this year's market. Here is a snapshot:

Bainbridge Island +14% (+2% last month)
Poulsbo +58% (+41% last month) - 39 of 56 pending are new construction
Bremerton -19% (-13% last month)
Kingston +7% (+13% last month)
Silverdale +6% (+7% last month)
Port Orchard +8% (+8% last month)
Olalla -29% (-28% last month)





Note: Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS

[deejayoh]

Those inventory numbers are going to crush prices by this summer. You can take that to the bank