As we wrap up our 2011 coverage, let’s have an early look at December’s stats. 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:
Similar November to December bump as last year, though not as dramatic. Notice that for the first time since June, 2011’s sales came in below 2010. It will be interesting to see if the NWMLS stats line up with that.
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.
Snohomish still came in above 2010, though not by as much as previous months. Since this data includes foreclosure deeds, it’s hard to say if this is indication of strength in regular sales.
Next, here’s Notices of Trustee Sale, which are an indication of the number of homes currently in the foreclosure process:
Same basic story we’ve seen throughout the second half of the year. Still low, probably still being depressed by state legislation from earlier 2011.
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.”
Basically flatlining for the last three months.
Lastly, here’s an update of the inventory charts, updated with the inventory data from the NWMLS.
December was the lowest point in over four years (since before the NWMLS changed their definition of “active listing”) for both King and Snohomish County. Here’s hoping we start to see some uptick in selection in 2012.
Stay tuned later this month a for more detailed look at each of these metrics as the “official” data is released from various sources.