The Sequim real estate market may be turning from a seller’s market to a more balanced market, if not a buyer’s market. Let’s examine what’s happening in the Sequim real estate market now.
If you’ve been reading articles on this blog over the past 10 years or even the past 5 years, you would know that we had what I call a 10-year real estate recession, during which virtually no one was building a new home, and prices were pushed down by 30% or more and then went flat for years. But retirees continued to move to Sequim and buy homes, albeit in small numbers. Since they were still buying homes in a small real estate inventory, and builders were not building new homes, it was inevitable that there would be an inventory crisis.
Sequim Real Estate Market Evolving
About halfway through the recession, I wrote about the darkness on the horizon. I wrote that if retirees continued to move to Sequim and pick off the best homes in the best areas at the best prices, eventually there would be an inventory crisis, and that crisis hit us about about two years ago.
The sequence of events went like this. Homes started selling at full listed price. Then we periodically got two offers on the same home. Then prices started creeping upward slowly. I would say that prices have increased by about 30% in the last two years, which is a dramatic increase for the Sequim real estate market.
Meanwhile the homes retirees want [Read The Sequim Bell Curve] were selling within days, and now it’s hard to find one in the Sequim MLS.
But there is a hint that the winds are changing. In a brand new report released today from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), “Home sellers throughout the Seattle region are experiencing a reality check and the days of multiple offers are days of the past.”
And this: “New figures from Northwest MLS show year-over-year improvement in inventory (up 6.5 percent), but modest drops on both pending sales (down slightly more than 7 percent) and closed sales (down 3.4 percent). Despite those drops, prices rose 8.64 percent across the MLS service area that spans 23 counties.” And,
In his comments about sellers experiencing a reality check, broker Keith Bruce-Jones suggested Seattle is experiencing a self-corrective shift in the market. “Many sellers are reaching for their dictionaries to understand the words ‘price reduction’ and ‘increased market time.’”
It’s too early to draw a firm conclusion about the effect all this will have on the Sequim real estate market, but it almost certainly will catch up with us. Many retirees moving to Sequim are now opting to buy a lot and build a home, so that is another changing dynamic. And new home listings will inevitably come on the market in the weeks and months ahead.
Sequim Real Estate Market Prediction
My prediction is that prices have stabilized again, and this means the market is shifting away from a seller’s market toward a balanced market, and this will be good news for buyers. We will still struggle with a low inventory for a while, so this doesn’t mean it will suddenly get easy for buyers to find their ideal retirement home. If you’re a buyer, you’ve got to know how to navigate this kind of market. I advise my buyer clients what to do in this kind of market, and I help them do it.
Meanwhile, keep watching the Sequim MLS, and stay tuned on this blog to keep up with the Sequim real estate market.
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