Long time Ballard resident and local Real Estate Broker Sharon Giampietro shares a regular post on My Ballard to keep readers informed about the local real estate market.
Housing in all its aspects is on everybody’s mind. As a major life task, we all have to sort out- where do I want to live, what would I like my abode to be like, what can I afford? Luckily there’s a huge variety in taste as we all fan out in search of that right place from which we can operate and comfortably live. Once settled it is easier to set about our other life tasks like work, family responsibilities and involvement in society.
The trend now is towards finding that home in an urban area, and a recent report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) says that by mid-century, 7 out of 10 Americans will be living in a city. Baby boomers are retiring in cities, and inevitably running into the younger generations who also like the accessibility, walkability, ease and lowered living costs of getting around.
Enter the huge popularity of the city of Seattle, with its many terrific neighborhoods. People of every economic strata want to be here. More land can’t be made, but in theory, more housing can be. The Mayor and other elected officials are really grappling with how to make more housing available for everybody. Buyers would like to see more housing too.
As arguably one of the best areas in the city to live, many are looking to live in the greater Ballard area. This is good news for sellers, especially if they bought at the height of the market and then saw their home values drop hard. As prices rise, these homeowners will be in a position to sell, and yet they too want to stay in the city, so competition heats up.
At the end of 2013 the average home price in the greater Ballard area was $513,000 and at the end of 2014 it was $560,000. Year-to-date through August 2015, homes sold averaged a sales price of $626,000. Up, up, up, and the hope is, not away. For both July and August, almost as many houses came on the market as sold, which means there is, at any given time, very little inventory hanging around to choose from. In July, 206 homes came on the market and 216 sold; in August, 174 homes came on the market and 172 sold.
Do the condo markets and new construction offer many alternatives? So far this year, 221 new construction homes have come on the market, down from 230 at this time last year. Overall, nationwide, the number of new construction homes is not keeping pace with demand, and that is true in our area as well. New construction sells very quickly with little standing inventory. The average sold price for new construction year to date is $720,000 as compared to $644,000 last year. There is a tad more running inventory with condos, although their prices are rising too. At the end of 2014, the average sold condo price was $290,000. At the end of August this year, it was $310,000. Many apartments have been built as builders choose apartments over condos; only 78 new construction condos have been added to the housing market so far in 2015.
The fall will be the last housing push of 2015 before the holidays set in. The attention of many is trained on the interest rates, prices and inventory as they ask themselves, will I be able to move this year?
Sharon Giampietro, Broker at Windermere RE/Greenwood
Contact: 206-310-0967 sharong@windermere.com www.seattlesharon.com
Greater Balllard is Greenwood, Green Lake, Wallingford and other close by neighborhoods identified as “705” in the Northwest Multiple listing Service. All residential and condo numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand and unless noted do not include new construction. Statistics not compiled or published by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.