Seattle Housing Trends

The Sunday Seattle Times had a number of interesting stats on the local and national housing markets. The Times reported that nationally, total home equity has grown by more than $2 trillion in the last year to $9.1 trillion, only 10% below the $10 trillion it hit in 2007.

87% of Seattle homeowners have positive home equity. List prices in Seattle are up nearly 18 percent over last year. Housing inventory is still tight, sellers are getting multiple bid offers on their listings, and interest rates are inching upwards.

And for those buyers who waited until this year to buy? According to the KCM Blog, if you were buying a $200,000 house last year at 3.5% interest, your mortgage principal and interest payments would have been $898.09. That same house today would cost $220,000 to purchase, and at 4.5% interest, your monthly payment would be $1114.71 - 24% higher in monthly payments!

Yet 4.5% mortgage interest is still fairly low by historical standards, and housing prices in many areas are below their historic high values. I believe the Seattle market has tilted to a seller's market, and that now is a good time for homeowners to consider selling their houses.

For a free market analysis on your home, please contact me at HomeLandInvestment@gmail.com or 425.270.7292.

Happy Investing!