Autumn is upon us, and we’re starting to see the first signs of the market slowing down as usual around this time of year. Everyone is starting to prepare for the holiday gauntlet—Spooktober, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. We’re looking forward to upcoming events with friends and family, but first, we need to assess the market for the last month of summer.
Inventory – Active vs Pending Listings
What a summer! Below we compare the number of active listings (supply) and pendings (demand) for several of the key Kittitas County neighborhoods including Cle Elum, Roslyn, and Suncadia. Our table includes single family residences comparing August 2020 and 2021.
Active listings are starting to out-pace pending listings, which means our inventory is growing and demand is being satisfied. This is normal for this time of year. Hopefully, buyers who couldn’t find something earlier in the year will be able to enjoy a little more selection and make a move before the holidays.
Median Sales Prices
Comparing August 2020 with 2021, we see that the quantity of sales didn’t significantly change in a lot of areas. This could be because the higher-priced homes are closing at the end of the season, but it’s more likely driven by the extreme seller’s market that has characterized this summer. Even as we go into autumn, the increase in median sales prices tell us that demand is still strong out there.
List Price to Sales Price
After so many months of seeing high sale-to-list price ratio, it’s a little anticlimactic to see the new average ratio hovering around 100%—but that’s exactly where it’s supposed to be. This indicates that balance is returning to the market.
Autumn is a great season, because it reminds us that everything changes. As the market shifts, so must our strategies for pricing, marketing, searching, selling and buying. Our goal isn’t to “game” or “crack” the market. Our goal is to serve our clients the best we can with experience, knowledge, and integrity, no matter what the current market trends are. So when you are ready for a personalized and up-to-date market analysis for your home or assistance in making your dreams of buying a house, we hope you’ll think of us.
