The NWMLS recently released this great video that summarizes the 2017 Housing Market in the Puget Sound region. I invite you to watch this 1+ minute video!
Happy Valley Horse Haven
Kitsap County Residential Closings
The days are longer, the nights are warmer, and the home-buying season is officially in full swing! Last year, "Prices in Poulsbo were more volatile than those in Kitsap County generally," according to The 2016/2017 Market Trends Report.
Where to Invest in Housing
Recent headlines appearing in publications across the U.S. have been calling to the rising prices of real estate, the rates at which the housing market is finally bouncing back after the recession, and steady mortgage rates continuing into the home-buying season. So, if someone asked me if now was the time to invest in real estate? I would have to answer with a resounding “yes!” And Forbes agrees. In a recent feature, the company made a list of the best places to invest in housing in 2017.
2016 Kitsap County and Bainbridge Island Market Recap
A record year for Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty and Seattle real estate in general. The recent 2016/2017 Market Report | Year End & Trends publication highlights the championing counties and neighborhoods from the previous calendar year. A brief glance at this report and you can see that our entire Western Washington region has seen an increase in home values.
Market Spotlight: Poulsbo
The Poulsbo area on the Kitsap Peninsula comprises the communities of Poulsbo, Lemolo, Lincoln Hill, and Poulsbo Place. Poulsbo is the home of West Sound Academy, one of the SEVP private schools certified to admit foreign students at both the middle and upper school levels.87 The population of Poulsbo—originally a Native American settlement, later a Scandinavian enclave—is estimated to have grown from 9,200 in 2010 to 9,950 in 2015.88 SFRs comprise 67.7 percent of the local housing stock. After dipping briefly into seller’s market territory in mid-2014, the monthly supply tightened three more times, then remained there from June 2015 through the end of the year. The average supply of homes for sale was 2.4 months in 2015, down from 4.0 in 2014 and 5.1 in 2013.
Demonstrating the degree to which prices in this market can shift, Poulsbo’s median sale price more than reversed 2014’s year-over-year decline, returning a 19.5 percent gain in 2015—the secondhighest percentage gain we saw after Belltown/Downtown Seattle. Although slightly more volatile than prices in Kitsap County generally, sale prices and their deviation from list prices trended with others countywide, which have together irregularly risen toward 100 percent over the past two years.
Market Spotlight: Bainbridge Island
Bainbridge Island in Kitsap County includes Port Madison, Rolling Bay, and dozens of other small communities, as well as the historic town of Winslow. The island’s Bainbridge High School and Eagle Harbor High School are both ranked among the top public high schools in the state by U.S.News & World Report.85 The population has held relatively steady at just over 23,000 since 2010.86 Despite its proximity to Seattle by ferry, Bainbridge Island’s 27.6 square miles available as living space render a population density of only 847 persons per square mile (psm). This is 59 percent less concentrated than Tiburon in California’s San Francisco Bay Area (2,065 psm), and even 39 percent less dense than Anacortes in Skagit County (1,388 psm). Accordingly, 80.8 percent of Bainbridge Island’s housing stock remains single-family.
The island has been a seller’s market since October 2014, and monthly supply spent most of 2015 below two months. The months in inventory As in many other exurban locations, prices tend to be more volatile on Bainbridge Island, as seen in these charts. Yet here again, the island benefits as a bedroom community to Seattle: the median price rose by double digits in each of the past two years, and in 2015 was 137.9 percent higher than the Kitsap County median. In 2014, seller price concessions were more common on Bainbridge Island than later in the past year, underscoring the need for a comparative market analysis and professional guidance when pricing a property for sale.
Market Spotlight: Kitsap County
By a short ferry ride across Puget Sound, the Kitsap Peninsula and its adjacent islands offer waterfront homes; stunning city, sound, and mountain views; and an easy getaway to bucolic scenes westward toward Hood Canal and the Olympic Peninsula. Areas in Kitsap County selected for community profiles include Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo. The former’s proximity to Seattle means that Bainbridge Island in particular enjoys the best of exurban and rural lifestyles: for some, a place of refreshment after the daily commute. For others, a weekend hideaway or reward for retirement. Kitsap County is also home to military families and contractors at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton.
Like Pierce County, this year Kitsap County shifted from a balanced market to a seller’s market, with average monthly supply tightening to 2.7 from 4.1 in 2014 and 4.9 in 2013. The monthly median home price of all homes on the peninsula reached $285,000 in June 2015, and the annual median settled at $258,500, a 7.71 percent increase year-over-year. The county is sufficiently remote that new construction is more speculatively priced than that found in markets closer in. As a result, monthly median price changes for newly built homes in Kitsap County have seen more volatility over the past two years than new homes in the three counties of the Seattle MSA; nevertheless, the trend in 2015 was higher. New construction peaked in November 2015 at $356,005, and the annual median was $318,100—12.4 percent higher than in 2014, the largest year-over-year increase in central Puget Sound.
At 0.9 percent year-over-year, population growth in Kitsap County was the second slowest among the seven counties surveyed, and 21st among Washington’s 39 counties.19 Nearly 71 percent of homes in Kitsap County are SFRs, compared with 56.7 percent in King County. Slightly less than two-thirds (65.2 percent) of the former’s housing stock is on unincorporated land.20 This is six times the proportion in King County, but not as much as in Island or Jefferson counties—markets that are beyond the reach of most commuters, but provide remote workers and retirees with a soulful refuge from the city.
These markets also provide insight on a commonly heard story of the last two years: the notorious bidding wars for real estate among buyers in western Washington. This was primarily a King County phenomenon—and within King County, it observably varied from one area to the next. Of the other six counties, only Snohomish saw significant amounts of such bidding. Markets further from Seattle were less likely to see bidding wars than seller price concessions as a result of their owners mispricing properties for sale.
The Priciest Bainbridge Island Home Sales of 2015
2015 was a productive year for real estate on Bainbridge Island! According to a recent article on Puget Sound Blogs, "The median price for homes sold on Bainbridge Island in 2015 was $615,000, meaning a lot of properties sold for a whole lot more. In fact, 71 Bainbridge homes fetched more than $1 million, according to county assessor’s records. That was up from 55 in 2014, and 47 in 2013."
See which homes made the list!
Are you a Millennial Looking to Buy a Home? Here's a Few Pointers to Get you Started
It's the season of college graduation and many millennials are turning toward their futures, asking questions about careers and likely looking long-term goals that include purchasing a home. In "Dear College Grads: Start Saving for Your Dream House Now (and Other Unsolicited Advice for Your Future," Jamie Wiebe says people often make the process sound easy: "Make money, save money, have good credit. Ta-da, a house!" But she says, "not so much: Getting your finances in order for home ownership can be a challenge, even if your goal isn't a luxury mansion." Luckily, she provides some useful ways to prepare for a future home purchase.
1. Build a solid credit history by opening a credit card and paying your student loans on time because you'll want a score above 700.
2. Think about homeownership when you contemplate careers, considering factors such as income and locale.
3. Cut a significant chunk of your student loans to ease balancing student debt and a mortgage easier.
4. Establish a general idea of your goals for a home, which will help you work toward a financial plan to meet your needs.
5. Save as much money as you can, not only for your down payment, but also for the additional 5% that closing costs, home inspections, and taxes may add to your home's purchase price.
6. If you're thinking about investing, don't gamble -- utilize a financial adviser or a high-interest savings account, which provide less risk.
7. The income bump that a new job brings shouldn't mean an increase in your lifestyle spending. If you save your extra money, you'll be far better off in the future than if you attend that extra happy hour.
8. Finally, don't be afraid of beginning in a simple home or small apartment as a starter property, knowing that you can always upgrade in the future.