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November has come and gone, so 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:
Sales dropped significantly month-over-month, as is typical for this time of year. Inventory also fell, which is also normal for the season, but the month-over-month drop in homes for sale was the largest on record (since 2000) in both King and Snohomish Counties. Foreclosure notices in both counties were down from a month earlier.
Next, let’s look at total home sales as measured by the number of “Warranty Deeds” filed with King County:
Sales in King County slipped 22 percent between October and November (in 2014 they fell 23 percent over the same period), and were up 3 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 fell 20 percent month-over-month (vs. a 21 percent drop in the same period last year) and were up 4 percent from November 2014.
Next, here’s Notices of Trustee Sale, which are an indication of the number of homes currently in the foreclosure process:
Foreclosure notices in King County were up 16 percent from a year ago despite being down 16 percent from a month earlier, and Snohomish County foreclosure notices were down 25 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 45 percent from a year ago, and down 25 percent from a month ago.
Lastly, here’s an update of the inventory charts, updated with previous months’ inventory data from the NWMLS.
Inventory fell dramatically in both counties month-over-month, more than is typical for this time of year. As a result, the year-over-year decline in each county hit its highest point since May 2013. King was down 37 percent from a year ago while Snohomish was down 28 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.