Seattle, Bellevue, and King County Real Estate Blog

I noticed some interesting tidbits looking over statistics of closed sales in King County compiled by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Some of the stats that jump out at me are telling of how important accurately analyzing statistical information is.

For instance, the overall median price of sold listings for November 2009 in King County was $370,000, down 6.3% from the same month a year prior. Based on this info you would be likely to see a negative newspaper headline reading something along the lines of “Home Values Drop 6.3%.” It is true that prices are down from a year ago, but there is more to it than that. I’ve been telling people for months that prices have been really flat for seven or eight months… and as it turns out:

MEDIAN PRICES HAVE RISEN SINCE MARCH 2009!!!!

Yep, the median price of King County closed residential sales rose 1.7% from March’s $363,850 median sale price. However, even this number is relative, because there are neighborhoods that have appreciated while some have depreciated to make things mostly flat. As an example, neighborhoods in North, Central and West Seattle have shown price increases, while neighborhoods in Renton have been hit harder over the last year.

The moral of the story is to get educated on the trends of a particular neighborhood you are interested in. Feel free to call us at 425-289-1099 with all of your real estate questions.