Market Cooldown: What Does it Mean for Bellevue?
King County Market Slows
It’s not just Bellevue. Across King County, buyers and sellers made 27% fewer deals on single-family homes in August 2022 compared to last year. The market shows signs of moving towards a more balanced market, but for now, it seems to be more of a stalemate. With homes staying on the market longer across the region, buyers can afford to wait for prices to cool further while sellers seem unwilling to let their asking prices dip too much past what they had been able to list them at a few months ago. Even with these developments, every metro area in King County still qualifies as a seller’s market, with inventory well below the four to six months’ worth of home inventory needed to be considered a truly balanced market.
Bellevue’s Market
The Bellevue market is down compared to last August, but not out. In fact, Bellevue recently ranked as the top Washington State city to buy a home in. In a market study based on factors such as home appreciation, job growth, and other metrics, Bellevue found itself as the 14th most compelling market. Many other Washington cities made the list, Seattle came in at 16th, which shows that the area should be at the top of your list for buying a home. And now might be a good time to do that, as asking prices and median sales prices are both lower now than last year.
While it is not a buyer’s market, rising interest rates and home prices that are still high have cooled some of the competition. Rather than having to make an offer on homes right away, often waiving time-consuming steps like home inspections or offering cash buyouts, homes are staying on the market for long stretches. This has cooled a hyper-competitive market into one where buyers can take their time and wait for rates or prices to dip as sellers see their homes sitting on the market. This trend has occurred in cities around the country and over 15% of homes saw price reductions after hitting the market in July.
What Does it Mean?
Bellevue is a great market to invest in. For buyers, inventory is trending up over the last 12 months, even if it fell slightly compared to last August. With asking prices and median sales prices also dipping, buying a home in Bellevue, with an empirical history of fantastic price appreciation, could be the right choice now, if high-interest rates are not a barrier. However, with that in mind, rates are expected to rise further before going down, so some may want to wait on their next home to get a friendlier mortgage.
Sellers are still operating in a market that favors them. Even with slight dips in median sales prices, homes are still appreciating well and sellers in Bellevue can get a great return on their home investment. The median price is still sitting between $1.4 and $1.7 million, giving Bellevue the second highest of any city in the United States. Even so, with homes staying on the market much longer, 30% longer according to Sotheby’s data on the city’s market, sellers should adjust their expectations. We are no longer in the frenzied market of just a few months ago, and lowering asking prices might become more common as we head into the traditionally slower fall and winter real estate markets.
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At The Chang Group, our unparalleled expertise can help you navigate the complicated markets today, and in the future, whatever your real estate goals may be. Do not hesitate to reach out to our team with any questions!