Now that June is behind us, let’s have our first look at how the month’s real estate stats stack up. 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:
June was a mixed bag. Sales hit their highest level since 2007 in King County and a new all-time high in Snohomish County. Despite this, active listings saw unusually large month-over-month increases in both counties. Foreclosures are still at or near lows.
Next, let’s look at total home sales as measured by the number of “Warranty Deeds” filed with King County:
Sales in King County increased 19 percent between May and June (a year ago they rose 15 percent over the same period), and were up 3 percent year-over-year. Warranty deeds broke the 5,000 marke for the first time since June 2007.
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 rose 8 percent month-over-month (vs. a 17 percent increase in the same period last year) and were up 4 percent from May 2015. June’s level of 2,039 sales was the highest on record.
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 down just slightly from a year ago and Snohomish County foreclosure notices were up 10 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 up 23 percent from a year ago.
Lastly, here’s an update of the inventory charts, updated with previous months’ inventory data from the NWMLS.
Between 2000 and 2015, active listings increased an average of 3.4 percent between May and June in both King and Snohomish counties. This year over the same period there was a 17.9 percent increase in King County and a 13.8 percent increase in Snohomish County. The surge still was not enough to bring us into positive year-over-year territory, but it is definitely unexpected with sales as strong as they are.
Active listing inventory was down 7 percent from a year ago in King County. Snohomish County had a 23 percent drop in inventory from a year ago.
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.