Before we start, and sticking with our quote of the week, here’s a little extra for you faithful readers in honor of the Pearl Jam Home Shows. I heard they played for over three hours last night. Great track. Great album. Enjoy.
Anyway, back to business. Here’s the latest NWMLS press release. You should read it, but ignore the quotes.
From the PR: King County’s number of active listings surged nearly 48 percent from a year ago, rising from 3,465 active listings to 5,116. Snohomish County also had double-digit increases, up nearly 15.8 percent, but 15 counties reported less inventory than twelve months ago.
From me: I do think the surge in new listings represent a large swathe of homeowners who have been hearing the words “escalation,” “multiple” and “inventory” in conjunction with “clause,” “offers” and “low” for so long they’ve decided to jump into the game.
The true fact remains. Inventory is still way below anything considered “normal” and I think it is going to remain that way for the foreseeable future.
For new construction, prices need to stabilize a bit for sure. However (here’s the broken record), land is expensive, sticks and bricks cost more as does the labor.
It’s clear pricing needs to be very sharp right now. The arbitrary, incremental price increases should take a backseat to strategic pricing and case-by-case evaluations. And, as always, salesmanship, sound processes, customer follow-up, broker outreach and expertise are still required every day onsite; perhaps even more so right now.
