October 2020 Real Estate Market Update REport

Fircrest, Washington                                                                                                                                                       November 5, 2020

Licensed first in 1968, Frank Hawkins, Designated Broker of Hawkins-Poe was quoted recently in their ZOOM Office Meeting as saying, “Finding and buying a home today is more difficult than at any time in my first 52 years in Real Estate.” The Northwest MLS report recapping October activity showed a 40% drop in active listings compared to the same month a year ago, an increase of 16% in pending residential home sales (mutually accepted offers), and a year-over-year (YOY) jump of nearly 30% in closed sales.

 “I have been tracking residential interest rates consistently since 1972, which was the last time interest rates where even close. The annual average that year was 3.50%, today’s average is 2.80% for 30-year fix rate loans for residential financing.” stated Hawkins. “Interest rates are incredibly low, inventory is incredibly low and anxiety is incredibly high among buyers,” he remarked.

NWMLS members added 10,428 new listings to the supply during the month, improving on the year-ago total of 8,394 for a gain of 24%. In keeping with the pattern of previous months, October’s 11,039 pending sales surpassed the number of new listings. Pierce County, for the same period added 1,614 new listings while new pending sales rose to 1,786, causing the number of properties in inventory to drop from 1,764 last October to 986 for October 2020.

Things where not much different for Kitsap County where Brokers added 507 new listings to inventory while completing 564 new pending sales. Inventory dropped from a total of 598 listings in inventory in 2019 to only 337 for the same period this year.