Page not found – Spokane Real Estate, SpokaneRealtySource.com https://spokanerealtysource.com Spokane Real Estate, SpokaneRealtySource.com Fri, 24 May 2019 20:48:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 1Q-2019 Housing Sales & Prices Showing More Signs of Trend Reversal in Northwest and Nation https://spokanerealtysource.com/2019/05/24/1q-2019-housing-sales-prices-showing-more-signs-of-trend-reversal-in-northwest-and-nation https://spokanerealtysource.com/2019/05/24/1q-2019-housing-sales-prices-showing-more-signs-of-trend-reversal-in-northwest-and-nation#respond Fri, 24 May 2019 20:48:30 +0000 https://spokanerealtysource.com/?p=53 This article, including minor edits for brevity or emphasis here, was originally published by David Haggith in Seeking Alpha – Real Estate / Market Outlook 5/23/2019 Summary Existing home sales were down again nationally (4.4%) in April (fourteenth month in a row of declining sales year on year). Prices are now down 3.5% in Seattle […]

The post 1Q-2019 Housing Sales & Prices Showing More Signs of Trend Reversal in Northwest and Nation appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
This article, including minor edits for brevity or emphasis here, was originally published by David Haggith in Seeking Alpha – Real Estate / Market Outlook 5/23/2019

Summary
Existing home sales were down again nationally (4.4%) in April (fourteenth month in a row of declining sales year on year).
Prices are now down 3.5% in Seattle YoY. Another hot market in Washington State has been the tri-cities area in Eastern Washington where the median price is now 12% lower than a year ago. Redmond, WA, home of Microsoft, prices down 18%. Pricey Mountain View, CA, (between Palo Alto and Santa Clara), prices down 2.2% YoY. Portland, OR, prices down 1.2%.

Article
Existing home sales were down again nationally (4.4%) in April (fourteenth month in a row of declining sales year on year). That is the longest stretch without a single positive month since the housing-market collapse that brought on the Great Recession.
So far as I am aware, I was the first to state that what we had seen by the start of July 2018, was clear evidence that the housing market was going into another decline. I pointed to the Seattle/King County market as the bellwether at the time because it had been the strongest and last market to collapse during the last housing crisis, so trouble in that robust market is trouble, indeed.

Sampling of the data shows that prices are now down 3.5% in Seattle YoY. Another hot market in Washington State has been the tri-cities area in Eastern Washington where the median price is now 12% lower than a year ago. Redmond, WA, home of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), prices down 18%. Pricey Mountain View, CA, (between Palo Alto and Santa Clara), prices down 2.2% YoY. Portland, OR, prices down 1.2%.

For several months, it was mostly just sales that were down. As I said at the time, it would take a while for prices to follow because sellers are highly resistant to dropping the value of their number one asset; so, the squeeze needs to be on for a while for median prices or average prices to fall. Well, the squeeze has been on long enough, and sellers are starting to capitulate to the long drop in demand. Prices are falling.
There are other parts of the country where prices are going up, of course, but overall, the trend is down for sales and starting to move down now for prices. Prices had risen in most parts of the country to the same housing bubble heights of the last time around and exceeding them in others. Declining affordability is increasingly becoming a price softening driver in many markets.

Everything Bubble comments – I don’t think prices will probably fall as hard this time because the Federal Reserve probably will jump in sooner if it can, but there is not a long ways the Fed can go to lower interest or ease credit terms either in order to stimulate the market. Credit terms are already pretty slack. I also don’t think the housing market will be the primary cause of the overall economic collapse we are slowly going into this time around, as it was last time, but it will be a contributing cause to the bursting of the everything bubble, along with Carmageddon, the Retail Apocalypse, the trade war, the bursting of the bond bubble and the credit bubble and student loans, and a deeper stock market crash, the fall of China’s economy and Europe’s – all the things that I have been saying for the last couple of years will be the major forces to watch that will determine the trajectory of our economy.

A review of the year ahead – All of these things that are consistently continuing to get worse and exert their own gravity on the US economy were on my January list titled “2019 Economic Headwinds Look Like Storm of the Century,” which was my first Premium Post. All of these things and the rest of the items that I covered extensively in that list are playing out this year as I said they would, with the exception so far of repatriated tax money, which is still more in play in stock buybacks than I thought it would be, and GDP, which took what I believe will prove to be a temporary bump back up. I remain as certain now as I was then that everything on that list will continue to build negative pressure against the economy, and with five months now to judge by, the list stands on its own merits.

Let me share my one statement on housing in that list so you can see how each point gets exploded in detail:
Housing over the hump: We all know the American economy has long been designed for housing growth to be its major driver. Nearly two years ago, I said the Fed’s balance-sheet unwind, which primarily impacts long-term interest rates, would drive down the housing market. I’ll have a full article on housing soon, but suffice it to say in this headwinds overview that we saw a housing decline begin in 2018, and it will grow worse in 2019 as mortgage rates rise even further. New housing feeds real-estate agents, mortgage brokers, bankers, developers, road crews, carpenters, landscapers, drywall installers, painters, plumbers, electricians, furniture salesman, cabinetmakers, glazers, appliance manufacturers, furnace manufacturers, lumber mills and loggers, the grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations that supply them all. You get the point, and that is why we build our economy around it. It’s why so many people want immigrants (partly for cheap labor and partly because they will need more housing). That is a minuscule part of the total list of people who make money off of new housing and off of remodeling old housing. So, with housing now clearly going down, the economic impact comes down to simple math: higher interest equals higher payments in a land of flat wages, which means fewer buyers and/or lower prices to get the payments back down. Housing sales and prices are falling now in Australia and Canada, too.

Finally, another sobering note – this decline was triggered by only a minor nudge upward in mortgage rates because the Fed quickly reversed course on all of its tightening plans, bringing mortgage rates back down. Yet, the damage is done as shown by the fact that housing continues to decline, even though interest rates have stabilized barely higher than they were.

The post 1Q-2019 Housing Sales & Prices Showing More Signs of Trend Reversal in Northwest and Nation appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
https://spokanerealtysource.com/2019/05/24/1q-2019-housing-sales-prices-showing-more-signs-of-trend-reversal-in-northwest-and-nation/feed 0
Eastern Washington – Spokane Area Real Estate Market Update – The Gardner Report – Q4 2018 https://spokanerealtysource.com/2019/04/24/eastern-washington-spokane-area-real-estate-market-update-gardner-report-q4-2018 https://spokanerealtysource.com/2019/04/24/eastern-washington-spokane-area-real-estate-market-update-gardner-report-q4-2018#respond Wed, 24 Apr 2019 23:36:31 +0000 https://spokanerealtysource.com/?p=43 The following analysis of the Eastern Washington real estate market is provided by Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. We hope that this information may assist you with making better-informed real estate decisions. For further information about the housing market in your area, please don’t hesitate to contact your Windermere agent. ECONOMIC OVERVIEW The […]

The post Eastern Washington – Spokane Area Real Estate Market Update – The Gardner Report – Q4 2018 appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
The following analysis of the Eastern Washington real estate market is provided by Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. We hope that this information may assist you with making better-informed real estate decisions. For further information about the housing market in your area, please don’t hesitate to contact your Windermere agent.

ECONOMIC OVERVIEW
The Washington State economy continues to add jobs at an above-average rate, though the pace of growth is starting to slow as the business cycle matures. Over the past 12 months, the state added 96,600 new jobs, representing an annual growth rate of 2.9%—well above the national rate of 1.7%. Private sector employment gains continue to be quite strong, increasing at an annual rate of 3.6%. Public sector employment was down 0.3%. The strongest growth sectors were Real Estate Brokerage and Leasing (+11.4%), Employment Services (+10.3%), and Residential Construction (+10.2%). During fourth quarter, the state’s unemployment rate was 4.3%, down from 4.7% a year ago.

Eastern Washington added 4,984 jobs over the past 12 months, representing an annual growth rate of 1.1%. Although the region added jobs at a fairly healthy clip, the unemployment rate matched that seen a year ago at 5%.

HOME SALES ACTIVITY
Home sales throughout Eastern Washington slowed in the final quarter of the year, with total sales down 8.7% over the same quarter in 2017 to 3,211 units.
Sales rose fastest in the small Lincoln County area, which increased by a significant 42.1%. For perspective, that translates to only eight additional sales. Walla Walla County was again a laggard, with a drop of 21.8%. But it, too, is a small market that can be prone to significant swings.
Year-over-year, home sales rose in just two counties, with the balance of the market seeing some fairly significant drops.
Interestingly, the number of homes for sale dropped by 15.2% from the fourth quarter of 2017. Many Pacific Northwest markets saw significant increases in inventory levels last fall, but that was not the case in Eastern Washington. That said, I anticipate we will see more homes for sale as we move into the spring selling season.

HOME PRICES

Year-over-year, the average home price in Eastern Washington rose 9.5% to $264,231. However, price growth slowed somewhat between third and fourth quarter, reporting a 2.6% drop in the average sales price.
Low inventory in the region continues to be a significant hurdle to many home buyers. I had hoped more homes would come onto the market in the fall, but that was not the case. The spring market should provide more choice for buyers.
All the counties in this report saw prices rise compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. Whitman County took over the number one spot, with an annual price increase of 28.9%.
The takeaway here is that home-price growth has cooled a little but remains well above the long-term average.

DAYS ON MARKET
The average time it took to sell a home in Eastern Washington in the fourth quarter of 2018 was 63 days.
The average amount of time it took to sell a home in Eastern Washington dropped nine days compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.
Every county other that Lincoln (+2days) saw the time it took to sell a home drop compared to the same quarter in 2017.
Notably, it took 17 more days to sell a home in the fourth quarter than it did in the third quarter of last year, but I attribute that to seasonality.

CONCLUSIONS

The speedometer reflects the state of the region’s real estate market using housing inventory, price gains, home sales, interest rates, and larger economic factors.
The number of homes for sale dropped off in recent months and housing markets throughout Eastern Washington remain very tight. The overall trend continues to favor home sellers, so I am moving the needle slightly more in their favor.

As Chief Economist for Windermere Real Estate, Matthew Gardner is responsible for analyzing and interpreting economic data and its impact on the real estate market on both a local and national level. Matthew has over 30 years of professional experience both in the U.S. and U.K.  In addition to his day-to-day responsibilities, Matthew sits on the Washington State Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors; chairs the Board of Trustees at the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington; and is an Advisory Board Member at the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington where he also lectures in real estate economics.

 

The post Eastern Washington – Spokane Area Real Estate Market Update – The Gardner Report – Q4 2018 appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
https://spokanerealtysource.com/2019/04/24/eastern-washington-spokane-area-real-estate-market-update-gardner-report-q4-2018/feed 0
Eastern Washington Real Estate Market Report – Q4 2016: by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate https://spokanerealtysource.com/2017/03/03/eastern-washington-real-estate-market-report-q4-2016-matthew-gardner-chief-economist-windermere-real-estate https://spokanerealtysource.com/2017/03/03/eastern-washington-real-estate-market-report-q4-2016-matthew-gardner-chief-economist-windermere-real-estate#respond Fri, 03 Mar 2017 20:00:57 +0000 https://spokanerealtysource.com/?p=35 For insight into the entire eastern Washington region’s real estate data for the last quarter of 2016, you can go there by clicking the permalink above.   This is the quarterly report published by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist of Windermere Real Estate. Originally posted online January 31, 2017. Reposted here March 3, 2017. It is an […]

The post Eastern Washington Real Estate Market Report – Q4 2016: by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
For insight into the entire eastern Washington region’s real estate data for the last quarter of 2016, you can go there by clicking the permalink above.

 

This is the quarterly report published by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist of Windermere Real Estate. Originally posted online January 31, 2017. Reposted here March 3, 2017. It is an excellent source of information for the Spokane market, but with the added benefit of including comparative data for all the other eastern Washington markets outside of the Spokane region.

 

Future quarterly reports will be re-posted here as they become available. Click the permalinked title above for the report, or copy and paste the URL below.

http://www.windermere.com/blogs/windermere/categories/eastern-washington-real-estate-market-update/posts/eastern-washington-real-estate-market-update

The post Eastern Washington Real Estate Market Report – Q4 2016: by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
https://spokanerealtysource.com/2017/03/03/eastern-washington-real-estate-market-report-q4-2016-matthew-gardner-chief-economist-windermere-real-estate/feed 0
Market Mismatch – Fewer Options for Starter & Trade-Up Home Buyers, Luxury Surplus Growing https://spokanerealtysource.com/2017/02/15/market-mismatch-fewer-options-starter-trade-home-buyers-luxury-surplus-growing https://spokanerealtysource.com/2017/02/15/market-mismatch-fewer-options-starter-trade-home-buyers-luxury-surplus-growing#respond Wed, 15 Feb 2017 22:12:06 +0000 https://spokanerealtysource.com/?p=27 Market Mismatch Leaves Fewer Options for Starter & Trade-Up Homes; Luxury Home Surplus Expanding Re-posted February 15th, 2107 The following article, although detailing nationwide trends, has relevance to our regional Spokane-CDA market for Q1/Q2 2017 as well. The general trends of growing demand for shrinking supply in starters and trade-ups is reflected in the SAR and […]

The post Market Mismatch – Fewer Options for Starter & Trade-Up Home Buyers, Luxury Surplus Growing appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
Market Mismatch Leaves Fewer Options for Starter & Trade-Up Homes; Luxury Home Surplus Expanding

Re-posted February 15th, 2107

The following article, although detailing nationwide trends, has relevance to our regional Spokane-CDA market for Q1/Q2 2017 as well. The general trends of growing demand for shrinking supply in starters and trade-ups is reflected in the SAR and CAR area’s declining inventories. Also true, although reversed, is the trend of our slowly growing inventory of the highest end, large single-family luxury homes coupled with a gradually declining demand for these most expensive homes on the market, although the high-end lake properties of our region are proving to be an exception. If you are looking to buy a starter or trade-up, time to hire a skilled and experienced professional broker like me, so you can act effectively and timely achieve that goal of a new home purchase. If you are in the market for a luxury home, the chance that there are bargains to be had increases as the surplus grows. In a nutshell – it is increasingly a seller’s market in starters, trade-ups and affordable new construction locally, but the regional market for residential, non-recreational luxury properties may be moving from equilibrium into a buyer’s market.

ARTICLE: Most potential home buyers are looking for starter homes, but a Market Mismatch Report by Trulia [1] has found that these homes are becoming more difficult to find, particularly in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. The report examined market mismatch, which is interest versus available listings, in a side-by-side comparison of inventories.

The mismatch score was based on all for-sale listings on Trulia in the largest 100 U.S. metros. Site traffic was matched to the property and the price. Price categories were based on a distribution curve made for each geographic. Listings price determined which price category the home fell into: starter, trade-up, or premium. Depending on the price and the number of days a house was listed, the number of searches it had, and the price, market mismatch percentage points were determined.

The report found that Premium homes are at a surplus of 11 percentage-points nationally, while start-up and trade-up homes shortfall search interest by 5.7 and 5.3 percentage points each. This market mismatch has widened since Q4 of 2014 and indicates that buyers and sellers are drifting apart on prices.

The competition for starter homes has ramped up with 26.9 percent of searches looking for 21.2 percent of listings. Trade-up homes similarly show a higher demand than supply with 30 percent of searches chasing 24.3 percent of listings. Not all markets feel the pinch equally however. Raleigh, North Carolina, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, have the largest gap between search volume and availability with a 14.0 and 13.1 percentage point market mismatch. Philadelphia on the other hand has a surplus of starter homes, 11.6 percentage points.

A larger perspective of the report showed just how prevalent market mismatch was. “During the most recent quarter, of the largest 100 metros, 75 had a larger percentage of search interest in the starter homes category than percentage of listings that were actually starter homes. Ninety-two metros had a listing shortfall relative to search interest in the trade-up category. Meanwhile, only 11 of the largest 100 metros saw a larger percentage of search interest fall in the premium category compared with the percentage of listings in that same tier.”

Markets with low premium home inventory typically share a theme of slower population homes, population declines, and more low quality housing. Detroit and Philadelphia are the only two markets with a surplus of listings in the starter and trade-up categories.

Although inventories are declining throughout much of the country, the impact of the decline impacts local shoppers differently. For example, declines in start-up or trade-up homes in Philadelphia won’t impact shoppers much since most are looking for premium homes. But places like Houston and Dallas, interest in starter homes is met with too many premium options. The market disparity is the largest it has been in two years and it means that Americans are searching for homes in a market with dwindling options while sellers for premium homes will be left waiting longer to sell.

Credits: on 2/8/17 on Headline.News. Read the original report at Trulia.com [2].

 Article printed from theMReport.com: http://www.themreport.com
URL to article: http://www.themreport.com/news/02-08-2017/market-mismatch-leaves-options-starter-homes

The post Market Mismatch – Fewer Options for Starter & Trade-Up Home Buyers, Luxury Surplus Growing appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
https://spokanerealtysource.com/2017/02/15/market-mismatch-fewer-options-starter-trade-home-buyers-luxury-surplus-growing/feed 0 https://spokanerealtysource.com/files/2017/02/house-graphup1-300x198-300x198-1-150x150.jpg
Q1-2016 Spokane & National Real Estate Market Trends Report https://spokanerealtysource.com/2016/04/20/q1-2016-spokane-national-real-estate-market-trends-report https://spokanerealtysource.com/2016/04/20/q1-2016-spokane-national-real-estate-market-trends-report#respond Wed, 20 Apr 2016 21:12:27 +0000 http://withwre.com/rickpg/?p=15 RPG's Real Estate Market Trends Summary – Q1-2016 Newsletter After a sky-rocketing surge in sales activity stats nationwide to end Q4-2015 last December, existing-home sales activity tumbled in Q1-2016, particularly in many of the hottest markets. Hit by continuing low supply levels and unrelenting price growth the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that all four […]

The post Q1-2016 Spokane & National Real Estate Market Trends Report appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
RPG's Real Estate Market Trends Summary – Q1-2016 Newsletter

After a sky-rocketing surge in sales activity stats nationwide to end Q4-2015 last December, existing-home sales activity tumbled in Q1-2016, particularly in many of the hottest markets. Hit by continuing low supply levels and unrelenting price growth the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that all four major regions experienced sales declines in February. Then in March home sales nationwide only rose by an annual rate of 1.0%, the smallest increase in sixteen months, even while new listings grew 6.8% compared to last year. The strongest regions remain the South and the West, the Northeast is the weakest.

NAR chief economist, Lawrence Yun, stated that overall sales took a considerable step back in most of the country in February and March, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest. There were extraneous factors weighing on the decline, such as an extremely early Easter holiday.  "The lull in contract signings in January from the large East Coast blizzard, along with the slump in the stock market, may have played a role in February's lack of closings. However, the main issue continues to be a supply and affordability problem. Finding the right property at an affordable price is burdening many potential buyers," Yun said. There are other economists who would agree with Yun’s observation that there is an increasing difficulty for buyers faced with declining suitable inventory. Redfin chief economist, Nela Richardson sums it up colorfully; “No matter how high homebuyer demand is, it takes two to tango, and many sellers are sitting (2016) out.” Take San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, OR and Minneapolis as examples – all are seeing sales activity rates falling for the first time in almost 2 years as a direct result of significant inventory declines. San Francisco’s situation may be a bellwether for the rest of the nation, too, as its home prices are falling for the first time in four years. The median sale price had averaged 15% appreciation in 2015, fell 1.8% year over year, while the number of sales plummeted over 22%. Nationally, the median sale price rose 4.7 percent year over year by the close of Q1-2016, about the same rate as in the February data, but below the 12-month average of 6.1 percent appreciation. The average sale-to-list price ratio climbed to 92.9 percent, the highest level since 2009. Overall inventory nationwide fell year over year by 3.2 percent, the 14th consecutive month of declines despite the 6.8 percent increase in new listings.

Interest rates fell for much of Q1-2016: The 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage rate declined from 3.87 percent in January to 3.66 percent in February and below 3.6 at the beginning of Q2-2016. Rates are very likely to stay at or near these historically low figures for all of 2016, putting added pressure on home price increases in the most affordable markets even as sales activity declines.

The Spokane regional data story is consistent with the rest of the country. The average regional MLS sales price in March was $204,562 compared to $182,265 for March last year and compared to $265,200 for the national average. This local increase in average sales price was 12.2%, notably stronger than the national average, due in large part to Spokane’s relative affordability for investors and upwardly mobile buyers moving in with home sale proceeds from high-equity markets on the coast.  The median sales price for March was $187,500, an increase of 10.4% over March 2015 when the median sales price was $169,900. March 2016 closed sales of single family homes on less than one acre including condominiums totaled 495. Last year’s March closed sales data for the same type of properties totaled nearly the exact number at 497 Q1-2016 sales totaled 1,186 compared to 1,166, for last year through Q1-2015, an increase of only 1.7%.  The average sales price for Q1-2016 is $199,378 compared to $182,181 last year, an increase of 9.4%.  The median price through Q1-2016 is $182,500 compared to $167,950 last year Q1-2015, up 8.7%.

The national story of limited inventory is playing out regionally as well. Spokane and North Idaho inventory continues to be tight.  Inventory in the Spokane MLS as of this report totaled 1,752 properties compared to 2,162 last year at the same time.  Inventory is down 19%.  New construction sales reported to the Spokane MLS are up 18.7% through Q1-2016, with 165 sales compared to 139 for Q1-2015.

National Association of Realtors, Spokane Association of Realtors, Coeur d'Alene Association of Realtors and Redfin all contributed source material for this report.

The post Q1-2016 Spokane & National Real Estate Market Trends Report appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
https://spokanerealtysource.com/2016/04/20/q1-2016-spokane-national-real-estate-market-trends-report/feed 0
Spokane – Coeur d’Alene 2015 Year-end Real Estate Executive Summary & 2016 Preview https://spokanerealtysource.com/2016/01/28/spokane-coeur-dalene-2015-year-end-real-estate-executive-summary-2016-preview https://spokanerealtysource.com/2016/01/28/spokane-coeur-dalene-2015-year-end-real-estate-executive-summary-2016-preview#respond Thu, 28 Jan 2016 23:42:02 +0000 http://withwre.com/rickpg/?p=1 RPG's January 2016 Newsletter Solid, modest gains during 2015 – That’s the kind of year we’ve experienced in the Spokane and North Idaho markets for 2015. Overall, the data was not as flashy, nor as headlines-grabbing as the bigger, hotter markets across the nation, or Washington state for that matter.  Still, our market definitely saw […]

The post Spokane – Coeur d’Alene 2015 Year-end Real Estate Executive Summary & 2016 Preview appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
RPG's January 2016 Newsletter

Solid, modest gains during 2015 – That’s the kind of year we’ve experienced in the Spokane and North Idaho markets for 2015. Overall, the data was not as flashy, nor as headlines-grabbing as the bigger, hotter markets across the nation, or Washington state for that matter.  Still, our market definitely saw positive appreciation – and we’ll take it, thank you very much! Those of you who have lived in the area for a long time may know the following from experience: when it comes to trends in real estate and the economy, compared to the top metropolitan markets and even national averages, the Inland Northwest has historically been a lagging market with statistically flatter highs and shallower lows. That said, the bleeding of local home values from the 2008 to 2013 crash was still very painful. Although overall, the average mean home value in the region fell only about 20% from the peak, some sectors of the local market fell much farther. Many high-end residential properties lost close to half their peak value.

Autopsy on “The Crash” – How bad was it here in the Inland Northwest compared to other markets? The general rule locally was the lower the peak value, the lower the percent of loss that those property owners saw. How does our -17% to -22% average decline in value for our regional MLS markets, peak to trough, compare to the best and worst performers nationwide?  The NAR data was bleak for many markets;  here’s a sampling:  Las Vegas, NV: -58.2%; Riverside, CA (where the collapse is reported to have first appeared) -50.5%; Sacramento, CA    -48.3%; Orlando, FL -47.6%; Phoenix, AZ -47.1%; West Palm Beach, FL -45.7%;  Detroit, MI   -44.6%; Chicago, IL -42%; the nationwide average came in at -33.8%; Seattle, WA -34%; Providence, RI -32%; San Francisco, CA -27%. Best performers in the subprime-driven downturn were Raleigh, NC -10.3%; Columbus, OH -10.8%; and Nashville, TN -11.8% where valuations started out relatively low to begin with.  I am happy to confirm that the market decline story on display in the above data is at long last officially over and done with here and across the nation. Seattle in fact has just recently exceeded its peak 2007 valuation in aggregate, with increasing numbers of industry professionals expressing concern about another bubble forming across the Seattle metro markets.

A little recent history – Technically, our region’s housing market bottomed much later than the earliest markets to turn around, hitting its lowest point in March 2013. The local market then started to claw its way into recovery, had a slight flattening again in mid 2014, but since, we are at 15 months and counting of steady gradually rising prices and climbing sales activity rates. This pattern promises to continue into 2016, but only if several external forces do not weigh it down too much. I’ll go into further detail on this shortly.

The local data – As for the regional data highlights, the 2015 sales numbers are the best we’ve seen since 2007, with total sales up 17% over last year, and average sales price is up to $197,593 in the SAR-MLS, which is an increase of 6.1% and up 7.8% in the CAR-MLS to $201,663 in our north Idaho neighborhoods. The median price is up 7.1% to $179,900 from $168,000 at the end of December last year. Zillow estimates are slightly lower as they tend to lag in appreciating market periods. Inventory continues to be low, down about 20% from end of last year.  New construction sales are consistent with the rest of our local market, although at an average higher valuation, with 9.7% more units sold this year. New construction options in our region are very popular since much of our existing housing stock is generally older, marginally updated and characterized by an excess of disfavored or obsolete floor plans, like – split levels, by far the least popular floor plan out there; 50s ranchers and brick bungalows with very small bedrooms, no master baths and single car garages; chopped up multi-levels; and older houses with none of the open and vaulted interior space now popular with the majority of  buyers. Unfortunately, many older neighborhoods in our market suffer from an oversupply of undersized homes that are unlikely candidates for realistic remodeling objectives or budgets when return on investment (ROI) analyses are considered – as they always should be. So, locally, new construction has done quite well since the market began to recover and has experienced a very good 2015, with increasing numbers of customs and presales, and many builders selling their specs well before completion.

The national data – Nationally, existing-home sales rose about 15 percent in December alone, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and was the largest monthly increase the NAR has ever seen, placing 2015 in total number of homes sold at the highest level since 2006. There was a slight increase in the percentage of first-time homebuyers from 29% to 30%. Also notable was the average age of a first-time homebuyer rising to 33, the highest average age since data began being collected. Mainly for economic reasons, millennials are waiting longer to buy their first home. The national median existing-home price increased 7.6 percent to $224,100 in 2015. The hottest real estate markets nationwide include the largest tech-center metros – SF-Bay-San Jose area, Denver, Dallas, Austin, Seattle and nearly all of the other urban California SMSAs – all regions with very strong recovery in their labor markets. Foreclosures, short sales and REOs nationally and locally are now at their lowest levels since the market bottom.

General forecast for this year – So what’s in store for 2016?  The NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, has a cautious national outlook for the upcoming year. He and others have indicated that none of the nation’s markets will hit a sudden wall or fall off precipitously, but many will struggle in 2016 to keep pace with last year's rate of sales. Zillow economists’ forecasts are similar. The external forces these experts cite as positive influences are – low interest rates; improving household income growth for millennials, who now represent the largest demographic in the workforce. Negatives are – low existing-home supplies (depresses sales activity, discourages buyers entering the market); diminishing affordability in the hottest markets; slowing economic growth and rapidly falling demand for homes in oil-&-gas-producing regions. These are the main factors they see affecting national home sales data for 2016.

Inland Northwest forecast – Locally, we should continue our characteristic delayed and moderated version of the national trends. This means we are set to stay on a likely course for another year of slow, steady appreciation; lower than average inventory; shorter than average days on market and gradually improving demand as interest rates remain at near -record lows and new residential and commercial construction continues to complement the fundamental economic drivers in our regional economy – low utility costs, agricultural exports, natural resource industries, tourism, government spending (Fairchild, WSU, Eastern, regulatory offices, law enforcement, etc.), professional services and health care.

 

What are the long-term prospects?  – If you are enthusiastic about local economic growth and development, then an argument can be made (no bets on timing) that the long-view, big-picture news for the Inland Northwest is very promising. We are a geographically attractive region centered upon a small city and outlying towns with high marks for affordability, desirability and quality of life, but low marks for job opportunities. Small livable urban hubs not integrated into any already over-priced, large, sprawling, commuter-based metropolitan area are increasingly cited as places people report they would prefer to live and work. If the trend proves true, we fit into an emerging development paradigm that will have a long-term net positive growth story for the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene economy and real estate markets.  What we are lacking so far is the prerequisite expansion of our labor markets with an emphasis on higher paying tech-related jobs in industries organic to our region – aeronautical design and manufacturing, software, alternative energy, mining, agriculture & timber products, higher education and health care. Educational training for such positions is critical and the hard work of community leaders in creating and expanding such local opportunities in the University District is a testament to the dedication our region has to innovating our way into the new economics of the 21st Century.

Anecdotal considerations – Finally, when we consider the experts’ factors weighing on the real estate economy in general, three important considerations stand out that could prove beneficial to Eastern Washington-Northern Idaho – First, continued low interest rates with gradually loosening credit criteria encourages buyers, especially first-timers. Second, rapidly declining affordability in California, Colorado’s Front Range cities, and the northwest metros of Seattle and Portland eventually creates a spillover of out-migration into our area, as seen in past real estate booms. Third, the collapsing oil-patch job market in eastern Montana and North Dakota is a new source of physical labor for our region. Although at the risk of sounding counterintuitive, both of these last two factors have silver-linings already contributing to growth in our region. Anecdotal evidence that merits mention – some of the laid-off Bakken fields construction labor force is now helping fill the demand for positions in our region’s improving construction industry. Also worth noting is the impressive growth in better-quality restaurants in our area over the last decade which has been fueled by food industry entrepreneurs leaving high-rent, soaring-overhead, big cities like Seattle, San Francisco and New York, looking for affordability and quality of life in a place receptive to their top-shelf culinary skills. I believe this migration of talented chefs and restaurateurs into our community is just a bellwether precursor and will have its analog in other sectors of the local economy as the region grows. While mentioning such long-term trends, it should also be noted that the unfolding chronic, compounding water crises in California and Nevada will eventually drive increasing migration into our region as well.

In closing – These are just a few thoughts on the current conditions and future prospects influencing the eastern Washington and northern Idaho real estate markets. In future newsletters I will be delving into further details about the developments and trends emerging in our economy and what it means to those of us living in this uniquely positioned and beautiful place I’m happy to call home. Whether you are a homeowner, renter or investor, a first-time homebuyer or an empty-nester couple looking to downsize, real estate is such an important part of all of our lives, that we all need to be as well-informed as possible on the matter. That's why I aim to always keep you abreast of the most important news and insider info about this fascinating industry as best I can. Please do not hesitate to call me with questions about any of your real estate needs, or just to chat. I’m only an email, text or phone call away.

RPG

The post Spokane – Coeur d’Alene 2015 Year-end Real Estate Executive Summary & 2016 Preview appeared first on Rick Pearman-Gillman.

]]>
https://spokanerealtysource.com/2016/01/28/spokane-coeur-dalene-2015-year-end-real-estate-executive-summary-2016-preview/feed 0