June 2022 – Shoreline, WA – Real Estate Market Update

Homeowner Report For Shoreline, WA: Are You Wondering How Much Is YOUR Home Worth?

Well, we’ve got Sales, Prices, and Predictions: Everything you need to know for the month of June 2022.

Home Sales: It seems like it won’t stop raining and you may have heard a lot of doom and gloom about a recession, gas prices, inflation and so on BUT that hasn’t stopped the housing market from continuing to do well.  Here in Lynnwood, WA, median home prices have bumped up by $15,000 to $780,000.  Click the link if you’d like to learn how much your home is worth right now.

Transactions: In the city of Shoreline, the number of closings declined a bit, which is typical of this time of year.  Overall, the number of transactions has been staying flat and consistent for the last year.

Inventory: The number of homes for sale increased slightly, we’re up from averaging 57 to 59 homes on the market at any given time, but inventory is still at HISTORICALLY LOW levels, compared to the last 3 years.  Shoreline is the black line in this chart.  

However, you can see inventory is ticking up across the area – Lynnwood, Shoreline and Bothell are represented here.  

People keep asking if the market will crash, but as long as inventory is LOW, we should not see a significant decline in prices.  This INVENTORY LEVEL is the number to watch, and I will be keeping you posted.  We’re right on the mark – at the same inventory levels, we were last year.   But the trend is toward more homes for sale, which indicates we won’t see the same strong price growth we have been experiencing.

With our A-PLUS home sales system, we help you maximize your profits when you sell, regardless of market conditions.  If you’d like to learn more about how we do that, click the link below and we’ll get more information out to you.

#2 – Now let’s talk about INTEREST RATES – they have SHOT UP in the last few months… The 30-year rate was at 3.2% in January, and now we’re looking at 5.1%.  This will have a big impact on affordability.

According to some calculations, buyers will have felt a 30% reduction in their buying power.  So if they used to qualify for a $1million dollar home, now they can only buy a $700K home.  This will be disappointing for buyers who have been in the market while this is happening, but new buyers enter all the time, and will just buy what they can afford now, without being too disappointed about what “might have been” if they had bought 6 months ago.

NEXT STEPS – YOUR FREE HOME EVALUATION: 

I know making a move is a big decision and I can help you get it done.  My name is Emily with HomeSmart Real Estate Associates and as a real estate professional, I study home prices every day.   

As the sharply rising interest rates are throwing a wrench into the gears there’s a lot of uncertainty in the market, and some homes are not selling in the first week, like they had been.  It’s extremely challenging to know how much your home is worth and make a plan to buy your next home.  

Because of this, I want to make a special offer – only for those who watch this video.  I want to give you the opportunity for a custom one-on-one home evaluation.  We’ll get together over the phone, on a video conference call, or in person and go through exactly what your home would be worth if you were to sell it now.

Click the link below and you’ll be taken to a page where you’ll tell me about your home and then have the opportunity to schedule a time to connect with me for a custom 1-on-1 home evaluation.  Simply click the link below to discover your home’s true potential.

PREDICTIONS:

Now it’s time for… everybody’s favorite subject – Predicting the Future!

Yes, #3 – It’s time for Emily’s predictions for the Shoreline housing market this summer.

There are a lot of people who are freaked out that the market is going to crash or that we are in some sort of housing bubble.

However, this time is not like 2008 because we’ve got better underwriting on our loans – people were thoroughly vetted to make sure they could pay their mortgages, we had good appraisals, and people have a lot of equity.  

We are seeing fewer and fewer Forbearance Plans going into effect – which is basically an “emergency payment plan” lenders work out with borrowers who have gotten behind on their monthly payments.  Fewer of those are going into effect, meaning fewer people are having trouble making mortgage payments.

We just have a lot of money in this area, and limited housing options available, so that’s really forced prices up quickly, but for the most part, people who are in homes, can afford their homes.  House payments for homeowners today are much more comfortable (nationwide) than they were in 2007 before the market crash and are similar to or better than they have been historical.  And if someone did have financial trouble due to job loss, bankruptcy, hospital bills, etc. they would be unlikely to have a foreclosure, because they could still sell the home for enough to pay the mortgage.

Anecdotally, I will say I am seeing a softening market.  In the affordable price points, say under $800K, we are still seeing multiple-offer competition for homes, but in more expensive priced homes, things seem to be cooling off.

We have been seeing more homes sell with just one offer, whether it is on the offer review date, or afterward.

We used to price homes at the level of our “Comparable sales” and then see them get bid up by six figures.  

Now we are pricing them at the level of comparable sales and seeing them sell for around that amount – sometimes with a price increase if there are multiple offers, but we are also more frequently seeing them sell for less – and even having to reduce the listing price if sellers have gone out of the gate too aggressively.  Most homes are selling for within 5% of the list price, assuming it was appropriately calculated.

This is the time when seller’s should be more cautious about who they work with as their listing agent.  No longer can we just have Uncle Joe put a sign in the yard, and throw it in the MLS and create a bidding war. 

That’s why I always do more when we list every home:  We market through phone, video, text messaging, flyers, open houses, and online advertising (like this video that you’re seeing) to make sure likely candidates get a chance to see your home.  96% of Buyers see a home online before making a decision to visit it, so we need to make sure we’re getting in front of them!

If you’d like to learn more about how we implement our A-PLUS system to help your home sell quickly and for the top price, be sure to click the link below and request a home valuation.

For now, my forecast for the Shoreline area is to observe that home sales have softened up quite a bit lately, but values are still high and should continue to increase – just more slowly, helped along by inflation and our imbalance, buyer-heavy marketplace.  If you have questions or want to discuss the economic models behind this update, feel free to reach out or write a comment below.

Otherwise, I’ll see you at the next one. Thanks for watching.  I’m Emily Cressey, and here at HomeSmart Real Estate – We do more.