This is for u/DoubleDVa and anyone else who is interested in data on just how crazy bidding on houses has gotten in the metro Seattle area.
Link is to the Seattle Real Estate Podcast, specifically this episode where they go over stats on how many homes have sold for over $25k, $100k and $300K over the asking price.
Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7kW5B44jRw
For readers unfamiliar with the Seattle/King County, WA , the geography of the area plays a bigger factor than in a lot of other markets. The hills, mountains, lakes, Puget sound, greenbelts and the like render the area like a fancy map in a strategy-war game. There is very little flat land to be had, and commuting from one area to another is often long and tedious, limited to just a couple saturated routes which for the most part are already expanded as much as possible, thus placing more of a premium on location near to employment, etc.
Due to those limiting factors and the steady population influx of the past decade, many zip codes are almost completely ‘built out’ and transforming as older, smaller homes are purchased for cash by developers, razed, sub-divided and replaced with new homes near the maximum allowable construction size and often for 3x (or more) the price.
Combine all that with the plethora of tech companies and money in the area, and we’re seeing a rapid transformation in home ownership in the area.
I’d like to think we’ve passed the peak pricing frenzy around here, but honestly who knows?
From the Podcast Description:
A recent Redfin report found 580 homes in the Seattle area sold for at least $300,000 above asking price from the start of the year through June 16.
There were only 16 such homes sold during the same period in 2020, according to the June 23 report.
Seattle and Bellevue led the region in the number of homes sold at least $300,000 over the list price. Seattle sold 146 such homes this year, compared to eight during the same period last year. Bellevue sold 88 such homes, up from two during the same period last year. Redmond, Sammamish, Kirkland and Issaquah rounded out the list with 70, 54, 46 and 35, respectively.
“People can’t get a home for the list price or even slightly over list price,” Scott Petrich, a Seattle-area Redfin agent, said in a statement. “Because buyers almost always have to pay way above the asking price to win a home, they should start their search with homes below their budget and make sure they have money in the bank to cover a low appraisal to make their offer stand out.”
Join your host Sean Reynolds, owner of Summit Properties NW and Reynolds & Kline Appraisal as he takes a look at this developing topic.