Median price in Issaquah drops by 23.5%

[EastSider]

According to the data at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/ ... 462606.pdf -- Issaquah saw the biggest drop (of 23.5%) in May's median prices. Any thoughts on why Issaquah stands out so much?

[rose-colored-coolaid]

High priced exurbs.

[ira s]

Don't think that's quite it...it's more likely that they've added new construction townhomes to the mix, and that's "lower" end, pulling down the median.
I follow Issaquah single family homes pretty closely, and there's certainly been some decline, but over the last year I think it's more like a decline of 6% or so for the same kind of house in very similar location.

[EastSider]

[Notabull]

Issaquah also has the "Issaquah Highlands" which is just off exit 18 and up the big hill. The amount of inventory up there is very large, and those places are not doing so well. A lot of those houses are quite expensive (especially last year) and given that they're just not selling any more, I would wager that the change of product mix and the general decline are adding up to a large number.

IMO, having followed the market there a lot, prices are about 10% down in Issaquah in general since the peak. More for some properties, less for others. Shitty properties that people would have jumped on a year ago just are not selling, but "well priced" properties in good condition are indeed moving. Well priced, in Realtor speak, means lower.

[deejayoh]

Another data point on this: you can look at the trend on asking price over at Altos

http://www.altosresearch.com/research/WA/issaquah

Shows that in the last year, median asking has moved from $725k to it's current $662k (90-day rolling). That's a decline of just over 9%.

Now of course, using asking is not perfect either - but it does have the advantage of eliminating "mix" changes because you capture everything on the market. I'd say an accurate gauge is probably to take the decline in asking price and add another 2-4% for the difference between asking and selling - so somewhere between 11-13% off seems reasonable to me

[damoy]

I have been keeping an eye on Issaquah and 98027 for the past two years. Issaquah Highlands and Talus, in my opinion had the most new construction, an flipping was rapant, and there were alot of places bought at the height of the bubble. It was not uncommon to see a townhouse sell for 100K three months after is was bought in 2004 and 2005. Now it seems that the rats are all trying to get off a sinking ship at the same time, people trying to get their 2007, 2005, even 2004 prices, and yet I see the same houses with +200 DOM, disappearing and showing up fresh. 99% of the houses are staged and probably barely or never lived in. This really burns me because i would of loved to live in one of those two communities at a decent price. I remember in 2004, when prices were starting to get up around $200 / sq ft, I saw a house that was 1500 sq ft for 500K! That is when I knew that things were going to crash hard core, I got the same feeling when during the stock bubble, I had some shares of a stock that was going up 60-100 pts a day, I sold right before the big drop (ever hear of Microstrategy?).


I had bought a townhouse in 2004 and I just recently got out of it, I am waiting for when I can pick up a place for $150 sq / ft, is that too ambitious? It is already that low for new construction in Renton.

[Greg Perry]

Area 500 is below I-90 and includes So. Bellevue, Newcastle,Issaquah.

From a median price standpoint, area 500 by far is the worst performing area (by far) on the Eastside for the last 3 months. I really don't know why it's as bad as it is. 500 is holding 41 weeks of inventory. There doesn't seem to be really any hot price ranges in this area either.

The Plateau (NWMLS 540) has 33 weeks of inventory. Sellers above $900,000 have between 1 and 2 years of inventory at current rate of sale. Medians in 540 have been flat.

Two areas to watch closely are 560 Kirkland and 520 West Bellevue. Currently 52 weeks in both areas. Inventory is stacking up when the price tag goes over 1 mil. (Kirkland -- a small area-- has 216 homes for sale over 1 mil.)
--
Redmond (550) had more PENDINGS this year than last year. Lower price ranges are moving nicely. Overall Redmond has 28 weeks of inventory. Above 1 mil -- again no movement. For instance the between 1 and 1.5mil there is 168 weeks of inventory with dozen of homes to compete with!

550 Redmond and 600 Woodinville are HUGE areas. The vast majority of sales are happening in the western parts of these areas. For instance Thomas Guide map page 506 has the majority of sales in area 600.

Overall Eastside absorption rates are respectable in lower priced, western parts of the Eastside. The high end is VERY SLOW and dragging everything down.
(stats compiled from but not verified from NWMLS)