With April 2015 now in the rear view mirror, let’s have a look at our monthly stats preview. First up, here’s the snapshot of all the data as far back as my historical information goes, with the latest, high, and low values highlighted for each series:
First, a tiny ray of good news… Listing inventory did manage to increase slightly in both King and Snohomish. Meanwhile, sales also shot up in both counties as well. Year-over-year sales were up well into the double digits in both counties, while inventory was down double digits. Foreclosure notices declined yet again from 2014 in both counties.
Next, let’s look at total home sales as measured by the number of “Warranty Deeds” filed with King County:
Sales in King County rose 14 percent between March and April (in 2014 they rose 20 percent over the same period), and were up 18 percent year-over-year.
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.
Deeds in Snohomish shot up 20 percent month-over-month (vs. an 11 percent increase in the same period last year) and were up 19 percent from April 2014.
Next, here’s Notices of Trustee Sale, which are an indication of the number of homes currently in the foreclosure process:
Foreclosures in King County were down 27 percent from a year ago, but Snohomish County was only down 6 percent from last year.
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.”
Trustee Deeds were down 53 percent from a year ago, falling to their lowest point since March 2008.
Lastly, here’s an update of the inventory charts, updated with previous months’ inventory data from the NWMLS.
Inventory managed meager increases in both counties month-over-month, which is actually surprising given how many sales we’re seeing. King is currently down 15 percent from last year and Snohomish is down 17 percent.
Note that most of the charts above 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.
Stay tuned later this month a for more detailed look at each of these metrics as the “official” data is released from various sources.