What can you expect from our Puget Sound real estate market in 2020? Here are my projections.
Today we are talking about the 2020 real estate market projection. Our local real estate market is doing so well for the last year and we expect through this next year, in large part because our local economy is also so strong.
We still have a huge migration into the Seattle area, people looking for tech jobs. We have Boeing staying strong at this point and we’re expecting that to continue in through 2020.
Specifically, the prices are very stable. Our median price only rose 1.2% over the last 12 months. We’re pretty much in a very stable market. We can see that the green line shows the closed sales and the blue line shows the under contract. You can see what people were asking and what they got. Through the spring, it rose up a bit, peaked in May, and slowed down again, and then there’s January again. We peaked in June 2019 and then came down a bit. Notably, the blue under contract was actually higher than what we received in sales. That was not typical for the rest of the time. It shows people are looking to get more, but then realizing that they need to accept what the market bears.
As far as the number of homes available, that’s another huge indicator for what’s coming up this year. We can see for the trends that in 2018, actually the end of 2017 in November, we had a 1.5-month supply. That means that if everybody stopped putting their homes on the market in a month and a half, with the number of buyers we have right out there, everything would be sold. I’m using November because that’s the last month of statistics that we have to go from. So in November 2017, 1.5, moving down to 0.9 in March 2018. Then in 2018, we had 2.5 months. We actually rose up in our inventory last year. Not so much of a crunch as in 2018. Then in 2019, we went down to 1.2. 2018 we had less than a month, and in 2019 we had a little over a month. Most people don’t feel like that’s much of a difference, but in the real estate market, we felt a little bit of easing. It was easier for us to get our buyers into a home without quite so much competition.
The inventory has not gone up as much. In September 2018, we had almost three months supply, but in September 2019, we had just even two months supply and now we’re back down again to 1.5.
What does that tell us for 2020? What that tells us is that it’s going to be rough out there for our buyers. I’m telling my buyers that if you can, do it now. Do it now before another 10 buyers come on to compete with you for each one of your houses. You already have a couple, let’s not make it 12. That’s what we were seeing in 2018.
If you are a seller, it’s never a bad time, although obviously if you’re going to be ready to put your house on the market for the absolute highest price, I recommend February and March. That is what I’m telling my sellers right now and that conversation will be familiar to them.
What does this mean for you? If your home no longer fits, if you are looking to sell your house, get another, buy your first home, or maybe you’re looking to invest in real estate, let’s talk now about how we can best strategize 2020 to make sure that you have the best fit for you. Most of the time, people are not buying or selling because of the market. For the most part, it’s because this is what’s happening in my life. I need to get another investment in my portfolio, I need to get a bigger house. We need to have fewer bathrooms to clean.
Lots of things are happening in your home that make it the right year for you to buy or sell a home. If that’s the right conversation for you, click the box for home evaluation or home search. Let’s talk about how today is the best day to take the next step for a strong 2020 in your home and in your real estate investment. Have an amazing day, have an amazing year, and I look forward to talking with you soon in 2020.
