Leavenworth Supply of Homes Continues to Grow
A few times last year I wrote about the record number of homes for sale in Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee.
The first quarter did see an increase in the number of sales in Leavenworth, but I am worried that too many home sellers think that the market has regained its past glory.
Unfortunately, it looks to me like we will continue to break new records as far as the number of homes on the market.
Is this a bad thing? Not if you are a buyer – there are lots of options to choose from and it should put pressure on sellers to bring prices down.
Is this a bad thing? If you are a seller it is. A healthy market has about 6 months of supply of homes.
In the last 12 months 73 houses (single family homes) sold in the Leavenworth area. At the moment I’m writing this we have 160 homes actively being marketed for sale. This is 26 months of supply – more than two years!
At the current rate of sales to have a balanced market we would need to have 37 homes on the market. (Imagine what it would look like if 100 families decided this summer was a bad time to sell and took their homes off the market.)
Leavenworth Homes for Sale
Look at the January and March numbers for 2010. We are already seeing a double-digit % increase in the number of listings compared to last year.
Before we can claim to have “recovered” from the slump we are in we are going to have to tackle the issue of supply.
Only two things can help:
More houses sell
Less people decide to list their house
Any guesses which is likely to happen in Leavenworth?
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Required Disclaimer
NOTE: This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the North Central Washington Association of Realtors or its Multiple Listing Service. Neither the Association nor its MLS guarantees or are in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the Market.
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