What's Trending in Washington Real Estate Now?

Summer officially ended recently and the weather will seem much more “fall like” very soon. October/November is usually the busiest time of the year for me as I have helped many of you buy and sell during what can be the best time to do so. I wanted to share some key take aways from the end of the summer market research and discuss how you can take advantage of the shape of things.

View this email in your browser

We will see the change to real Fall weather starting Friday October 9

Below is the NWMLS real estate trend line for past three years for 23 WA counties. Compared to this time in 2019, listings (light green) are down 47%, what is sold is up 3% but what is pending is up 39% from a year ago with “pandemic related” purchases peaking at the end of the summer. The “peak” in sales is several months later than normal but also “what” people are buying has changed due to work/school from home behavior changes. More about the behavior change below as people, particularly in King County have shunned condos and living closer in to living further out with a house with private yard and little need to “commute”.

Breaking News. We just closed on this luxury condo for my seller whom has now moved back to Texas. We listed this beautiful downtown Bellevue condo right before the Covid-19 Lockdown. OMG I could write a book at all the things that got thrown at us on this one. Also, the pandemic created a HUGE shift in buyer dynamics and purchase behavior. Instead of living close in and getting rid of the commute, many chose instead to live in the suburbs or across the mountains instead and continue working from home.
The net result is the condo and multifamily market went soft while million dollar homes with private back yards became very popular.https://michaeljlink.withwre.com/listing/107421500How does this shape your buying and selling needs?

More about statewide traffic and the King county “commute” equation.

I have articulated all summer that virtually all of the tech industry is working from home and kids are schooling from home. Research data indicates this trend will continue. In fact another recent study says that office towers won’t fill again until 2025.
Office real estate market will get back to pre-Covid level, in 2025: Cushman & Wakefield
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/27/office-real-estate-back-to-normal-in-2025-cushman-wakefield.html

I have been watching the “work from home trend very very closely. The coronavirus remote work experiment will become a permanent trend, but at some point, employees will return to the office in numbers that match the past. When? It could take five years, according to this new forecast from Cushman & Wakefield.

Consider then how does this impact how and where you live? If you don’t need to be in King county you can sell for top dollar. Consider the data and trend and let’s determine where is NOW the best place for you to live or invest in?

This table below says a lot. In non tech worker areas traffic is nearly back to normal. But note that travel across both floating bridges is still way below what is was before as most all the high rise office towers remain empty.

Certainly had time to learn new things this summer. Some really important things like this one.
Besides Leavenworth and Lake Chelan, the grocery store seems to be the number one destination, right? Why was banana bread the number 1 baked item this summer? Because people buy too many bananas and can’t keep them fresh so they had to throw away or find something to do with over ripe bananas. How about learning how to keep them fresh instead?
Keep em fresh by wrapping the stem in plastic. The stem is full of ethylene gas which causes the ripening.

Favorite New Web Cam link to share with you
I thought about building a web site like this once but someone has done it for us, Here is a web site that has cleanly linked most all of the Washington State web cams. Check it outhttps://www.northwestwebcams.com/washington-web-cams.php

Coming Soon!!! Survey of Modern homes and cabins–related to this included video
Take a look at this-https://youtu.be/nBHGM1PCHqg

Michael J. Link, CRS
The Real Estate Broker “Helping People Move Closer in, or Across the Mountains”
Windermere Bellevue Commons425-890-1875 iPhone
425-462-8000 WRE Bellevue Commons office
425-450-2600 fax delivery
Visit http://www.michaeljlink.com
Click on the logos for links

Zillow 5 Star Premier Agent since 2007
http://www.zillow.com/profile/Michael-J.-Link

YELP! Client selected Agent of the Year award 2016

Isn’t it nice to know that now you have a friend in the real estate business that you can feel comfortable introducing to your friends, family and neighbors!

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

What’s Trending in Washington Real Estate Now?