Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if the local real estate reporters are being paid to push the “buy now!!!” mentality around here. For example, today’s article which comes right out in the headline and urges us to act fast!
As of March 1, 29 properties were available. Three more were added during the month. All 32 sold, resulting in a sales rate of 110 percent based on first-of-the-month inventory. That’s the way the real-estate industry calculates market activity.
And so it continues to go in close-in Seattle and Eastside neighborhoods, as scores of well-qualified buyers like the Maxwells outnumber properties for sale, particularly those priced under $500,000.
This is forcing buyers into lightning-fast decisions and bidding wars that reward sellers with thousands of dollars over their asking price, real-estate agents report.
It’s also keeping King County prices climbing, putting to rest any notion that ours is a “bubble market” where prices will stall or even fall. That’s happening in cities such as Miami, where rising inventory of for-sale properties is giving buyers room to negotiate.
In King County, however, the number of homes for sale fell 6 percent last month compared with March 2005, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Well I guess that’s it then. The bubble question has been “put to rest” because the prices are still climbing. I guess I’ll just shut down this blog right now. Because who cares if home prices have soared far above most normal people’s ability to pay and are continuing to rise? That’s perfectly normal, natural, and good. No bubble here, no sir.
(Elizabeth Rhodes, Seattle Times, 04.30.2006)