Redmond is back on top for having the best odds of selling a home on Seattle’s eastside! I’ll be publishing the monthly statistics for January’s real estate sales in Redmond in the next few days, but thought I would pass along the “hot” news.

This past week there were some Redmond home sales that “popped” within a week of going on the market.  One home had been on the market last year, did not sell then, and sold in less than 7 days this year.   Of the three homes that got offers this week, two were on the market a week or less!  

There are only 81 days left to find a home, have an offer accepted, and use the  2010 home buyer tax credit.

For this week’s full report see below:

View Larger Map

In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report.  The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908 and east of 140th Ave NE. The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered on Monday morning from NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing )information.

Number of homes for sale: 44 (45)

New listings: 2 (2)

$350,000-$499,999: 11 (13)

$500,000-$749,999: 17 (17)

$750,000-$999,999: 4 (4 )

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 5 (5)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 2 (2)

$3,000,000+ 2 (1)
———————————–
Average Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $888,795 ($769,047)

Median Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $632,000 ($619,000)

Average Days on Market: 127 (128)

Highest Priced Listing: $4,925,000 ($4,280,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $279,000 ($279,000)

New listings: two this week. 

Pending inspections and pending: Three homes received offers.  Four homes are now pending, which means the buyer and seller have agreed on the results of a home inspection and are now moving towards closing.

Price reductions: three this past week.

Homes off the market (homes that did not sell) Three homes are off the market.

Closed home sales: Two homes this week

Days on Market: Similar to last week at 127 days.

Median price: jumped up about $100,000 because of the new listing on the market priced just under $5,000,000.

Closed Sales Of The Week:

$380,000 last asking price of $385,000, original asking price of $385,000, sold in 5 days for 1.5% below the original asking price.

$708,000, last asking price of $675,000, original asking price of $675,000, sold in 5 days for 5% above the asking price.

Peak of homes for sale in 2009:

7-27-09   13,861

Now:

2-8-10  11,102

The number of homes for sale in King County is doing its typical heading to spring “creep up.”  There’s an increase of over 1000 homes for sale in King County since the first of the year.  There’ s still a good number of homes and condos for sale, but not an overwhelming amount.

What was the hot price range of the week in East Bellevue (east of 405)  and West Redmond?

• Most number of home sold: $300-399,999 5 homes sold.
• Is this the new hot price for Redmond home sales?  In 5 out of 7 weeks, the $300-399,999 has been the hottest.
  
• Most number of homes for sale: $300-399,999     44 homes for sale.
• Again, are we going to see more Redmond homes for sale in the $300-399,999 price range this year?
• All of this week’s East Bellevue and Redmond homes sales were priced below $899,999.
  
• There were 211 homes for sale and 14 homes sold in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft, last week.

• Best week to sell your home in the last 7 weeks?    1-27-10 with 26 home sales.
• Most homes for sale in the last 7 weeks?       12-23-09, when 233 homes were for sale.

• Peak of the number of homes for sale in King County in 2009?
• July 27th- a high of 13,861 homes for sale.

• Week of 1-18-10
• 10,735,  last week there was a slight drop with 8 less homes on the market in King County.  But there are still 1000 more properties for sale in King County than the first week of the year.
  

There ’s only 84 days for buyers and sellers to benefit from the home buyer tax credit. There are some terrific homes out there for buyers.  For sellers there’s still less competition than there usually is to sell a home in Redmond and East Bellevue.  Add this to the still strong interest rates, and the 2010 home buyer tax credit, and it looks like the first quarter of 2010 may be the best time this year to either buy or sell a home.    Serious buyers are out looking to find a home that’s a good value with the added bonus of the tax credit.  I think this real estate market is a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers.

The first 31 days of 2010 are gone. They’ve been busy days in the world of real estate.  There have been several homes in the Microsoft area of Redmond that have sold in a matter of days. Because of the 2010 home buyer tax credit, low interest rates, and and reasonable number of properties available, there’s pent up demand for the good homes that are a also a good value.

For this week’s full report see below:

View Larger Map

In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report.  The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908 and east of 140th Ave NE. The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered on Monday morning from NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing )information.

Number of homes for sale: 45 (47)

New listings: 2 (3)

$350,000-$499,999: 13 (13)

$500,000-$749,999: 18 (17)

$750,000-$999,999: 3 (4 )

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 5 (6)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 2 (2)

$3,000,000+ 1 (1)
———————————–
Average Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $769,047 ($779,116)

Median Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $619,000 ($619,000)

Average Days on Market: 128 (117)

Highest Priced Listing: $4,280,000 ($4,280,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $279,000 ($345,000)

New listings: two this week. 

Pending inspections and pending: Three homes received offers,from the 300’s up to the high 700’s.  Two homes have pending offers, which means the buyer and seller have agreed on a building inspection and are now moving towards closing.

Price reductions: three this past week.

Homes off the market (homes that did not sell) Three homes are off the market.

Closed home sales: one this week

Days on Market: Starting to creep up as it is now 128 days.

Closed Sale Of The Week:

$445,000 last asking price of $469,800, original asking price of $469,800, sold in 53 days for 6% below the original asking price.

Peak of homes for sale in 2009:

7-27-09   13,861

Now:

2-1-10  10,735   an increase of over 1000 homes for sale in King County since the first of the year.  This week, there are 8 less properties  for sale.  There’ s a good number of homes and condos for sale, but not an overwhelming amount.

Number of King County Properties for Sale, 2-01-10

A hat tip to Wendy Hughes Jelen for her post on upcoming Redmond classes to learn how to certify your yard as a “backyard habitat”.  Classes are to be taught during the month of March at Redmond’s Overlake School by the Woodland Park Zoo.  The cost is $75 per person and $140 per couple.  If you click on the link to the Woodland Park Zoo, you’ll find more information on the classes.  The  topics include attracting birds, wild life, conserving water, controlling invasive plant species and using native plant species.

I know some people who have had their yards certified in Kirkland as backyard habitats.  People worked really hard, but had fun creating the space for themselves, birds, animals, and native plants.  It sure sounds like a major stress reducer to have such a natural yard to enjoy.

Do you know of anyone who had done this and how it’s worked out?

What was the hot price range of the week in East Bellevue (east of 405)  and West Redmond?

• Most number of home sold: $300-399,999 12 homes sold.  WOW!
• Most number of homes for sale: $400-499,999     46 homes for sale. Last week there were more Redmond homes for sale in the $300-399,999 price range a first in many years.
• All of this week’s Bellevue and Redmond homes sales were priced below $799,999.
  
• There were 209 homes for sale and 26 homes sold in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft, last week.

• Best week to sell your home in the last 7 weeks?    This week with 26 home sales.
• Most homes for sale in the last 7 weeks?       12-16-09, when 239 homes were for sale.

• Peak of the number of homes for sale in King County in 2009?
• July 27th- a high of 13,861 homes for sale.

• Week of 1-18-10
• 10,743,  there are about 1000 more properties for sale in King County than the first week of the year.
  

There ’s less than 100 days for buyers and sellers to benefit from the home buyer tax credit. The number of homes for sale is increasing,  so buyers, there are some terrific homes out there.  For sellers there’s still less competition than there usually is to sell a home in Redmond and East Bellevue.  Add this to the still strong interest rates, and the 2010 home buyer tax credit, and it looks like the first quarter of 2010 may be the best time this year to either buy or sell a home.    Serious buyers are out looking to find a home that’s a good value with the added bonus of the tax credit.

Redmond and East Bellevue Real Estate Sales, 1-28-10

This chart is updated weekly by (Windermere Real Estate/East Inc., using MLS data to show the price ranges of the homes sold each week.

Here’s how it’s set up:

The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.

• Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
• Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
• Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week.

If you take the $400-499,999 line and follow it across the chart, you’ll see what has happened each of the last seven weeks.  There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take 4.3 months to sell all of the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.

It’s been a busy week in real estate,  so this Redmond weekly real estate buzz post is late this week.

The good news is the Seattle-Eastside real estate market has a lot on its side right now.  I call it the real estate trifecta, although maybe it should be whatever the “five”fecta would be called.  There are three key elements, and then two other important points.  There is obviously, the 2010 home buyer tax credit, which I’ve written about before, low interest rates, and the lower, but still good, number of homes for sale. (**see the chart below showing the number of King County homes on the market) Besides these three elements, there’s also the looming changes in FHA financing and an increase in the number of foreclosures to hit the market this year:

Another factor is the backlog in foreclosures, which are dragging down values and adding to the housing supply. “By all accounts, that backlog is at a historic high,” says Gabriel. “It suggests that many more homes will be sold on a distressed basis either via foreclosure or short sale.”

For this week’s full report see below:

View Larger Map

In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report.  The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908 and east of 140th Ave NE. The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered on Monday morning from NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing )information.

Number of homes for sale: 47 (48)

New listings: 3 (1)

$350,000-$499,999: 13 (17)

$500,000-$749,999: 17 (18)

$750,000-$999,999: 4 (3 )

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 6 (6)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 2 (2)

$3,000,000+ 1 (1)
———————————–
Average Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $779,116 ($775,444)

Median Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $619,000 ($614,475)

Average Days on Market: 117 (119)

Highest Priced Listing: $4,280,000 ($4,280,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $279,000 ($345,000)

New listings: three this week. More homes came on the market under $350,000.  The number of homes between $350-500,000 dropped to 13 homes from the 19 homes for sale just two weeks ago.

Pending inspections and pending: Five homes received offers, which means the Redmond real estate market is starting to pick up.  This is the best week of our short year so far.   One home is now pending.

Price reductions: Only one this week.

Homes off the market (homes that did not sell) One home is off the market.

Home sales: none this week

Days on Market: Starting to creep up.

Closed Sales Of The Week:

Peak of homes for sale in 2009:

7-27-09   13,861

Now:

1-25-10  10,734 an increase of over 1000 homes on the market in King County since the first of the year.

Number of King County Properties for Sale, 1-25-10

What do you see happening in Redmond’s real estate market?  Do you see homes selling?

What was the hot price range of the week in East Bellevue (east of 405)  and West Redmond?

• Most number of home sales: $300-399,999 5 homes sold.
• Most number of homes for sale: $300-399,999     49 homes for sale. This is big news. It has literally been years since more homes were for sale in the $300-399,999 range than other price ranges.  The $500-599,999 range had the most number of homes for sale in the area until the middle of last year, when the price dropped to the $400-499,999 range. With more homes priced below 400k this week, it will be interesting to see if this price range becomes the most dominant one in Redmond and East Bellevue real estate market, so far this year, it has been the most dominant price range.
• All of this week’s Bellevue and Redmond homes sales were priced under $899,999.
  
• There were 220 homes for sale and 15 homes sold in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft, last week.

• Best week to sell your home in the last 7 weeks?    This week with 15 sales
• Most homes for sale in the last 7 weeks?       12-16-09, when 239 homes were for sale.

• Peak of the number of homes for sale in King County in 2009?
• July 27th- a high of 13,861 homes for sale.

• Week of 1-18-10
• 10,294  a number not seen in King County since 2007!
  

There ’s now less than 100 days for buyers and sellers to benefit from the home buyer tax credit. With the number of homes for sale on the lower end, the still strong interest rates, and the 2010 home buyer tax credit, shouldn’t you think about selling your home now, rather than in the spring?  There’s much less competition to get a home sold and, usually, more people will decide to sell as the year progresses.  Serious buyers are out looking to find a home that’s a good value with the added bonus of the tax credit.  Interest rates also dropped again below 5%!

Redmond and East Bellevue Real Estate Sales, 1-20-10

This chart is updated weekly by (Windermere Real Estate/East Inc., using MLS data to show the price ranges of the homes sold each week.

Here’s how it’s set up:

The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.

• Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
• Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
• Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week.

If you take the $400-499,999 line and follow it across the chart, you’ll see what has happened each of the last seven weeks.  There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take 4.7 months to sell all of the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.

The number of homes and condos for sale  in King County are starting to creep up, although they are still quite low.  We’re back over 10,000 properties for sale.

With the extension of the home buyer tax credit and the lower numbers of homes for sale, if you’re going to sell your home, get started now, rather than later in 2010. More people will think of selling as spring nears.  Plus, the NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) numbering system for listings has changed.  Many of these homes came off the market and may be re-listed with the new numbers to look like fresh, new listings. Beat the crowd and the competition and think of selling sooner, rather than later in 2010.

For this week’s full report see below:

View Larger Map

In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report.  The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908 and east of 140th Ave NE. The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530. The area of Redmond called Education Hill is north of Redmond Town Center and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered on Monday morning from NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing )information.

Number of homes for sale: 48 (48)

New listings: 1 (4)

$350,000-$499,999: 17 (19)

$500,000-$749,999: 18 (16)

$750,000-$999,999: 3 (3 )

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 6 (5)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 2 (3)

$3,000,000+ 1 (1)
———————————–
Average Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $775,444 ($762,957)

Median Asking Price of Homes for Sale: $614,475 ($581,750)

Average Days on Market: 119 (117)

Highest Priced Listing: $4,280,000 ($4,280,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $345,000 ($345,000)

New listings: one this week. 

Pending inspections and pending: Only one home was pending this week.

Price reductions: Just a couple this week.

Homes off the market (homes that did not sell) Two homes went off the market.  Some will pop as “new” listings for 2010.  This often happens early in each year as sellers want their homes to look as if they are new on the market.

Home sales: There were 3 home sales that closed this week.

Days on Market: Still remains high, but is down from a few weeks ago.

Closed Sales Of The Week:

$359,500, last asking price: $398,000, original asking price: $398,000, sold in 47 days,  10% below the original price.

$390,000, last asking price: $409,900, original asking price: $449,900, sold in 55 days,  14% below the original price.

$410,000, last asking price: $419,950, original asking price: $435,000 sold in 31 days,  6% below the original price.

Peak of homes for sale in 2009:

7-27-09   13,861

Now:

1-11-10  10,549 an increase of 568 homes over last week.

What was the hot price range of the week in East Bellevue (east of 405)  and West Redmond?

• Most number of home sales: $300-399,999 and $400-499,999 3 homes sold in each price range.
• Most number of homes for sale: $300-399,999     50 homes for sale. This is big news. It has literally been years since more homes were for sale in the $300-399,999 range than other price ranges.  The $500-599,999 range had the most number of homes for sale in the area until the middle of last year, when the price dropped to the $400-499,999 range. With more homes priced below 400k this week, it will be interesting to see if this price range becomes the most dominant one in Redmond and East Bellevue real estate market.
• Most of this week’s Bellevue and Redmond homes sales were priced under $799,999. One sale was priced between $1,500,000-1,999,999.
  
• There were 218 homes for sale and 11 homes sold in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft, last week.

• Best week to sell your home in the last 7 weeks?      Week of 1-6-10 with 12 sales
• Most homes for sale in the last 7 weeks?       12-16-09, when 239 homes were for sale.

• Peak of the number of homes for sale in King County in 2009?
• July 27th- a high of 13,861 homes for sale.

• Week of 1-13-10
• 10,294  a number not seen in King County since 2007!
  

With the number of homes for sale on the lower end, the still strong interest rates, and the 2010 home buyer tax credit, shouldn’t you think about selling your home now, rather than in the spring?  There’s much less competition to get a home sold and, usually, more people will decide to sell as the year progresses.

Redmond, Near Microsoft, and East Bellevue, 1-13-10

This chart is updated weekly by (Windermere Real Estate/East Inc., using MLS data to show the price ranges of the homes sold each week.

Here’s how it’s set up:

The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.

• Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
• Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
• Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week.

If you take the $400-499,999 line and follow it across the chart, you’ll see what has happened each of the last seven weeks.  There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take 4.7 months to sell all of the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.

Redmond/East Bellevue Real Estate, Dec 2009

Sellers had 13% odds of getting a home sold in West Redmond and East Bellevue, both neighborhoods near Microsoft, in December, 2009.  (The NWMLS, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, puts the data together from East Bellevue and the Redmond area around Microsoft.)

If you check the link above, it shows the 5 year trend in real estate.  The numbers for the Trendgraphix chart may vary slightly from the MLS statistics posted in the above link, but the variation is slight.  The overall trend in the market is the same.

December, 2009       224 homes for sale    29 homes sold             13 % odds of selling.

November, 2009      243 homes for sale    41(now 37) homes sold             17(now 15) % odds of selling.

December, 2008      275 homes for sale      20 homes sold             7 % odds of selling.

*Adjusted sales numbers reflect sales that failed and did not close.

The median sales price dropped from $544,475 in December, 2008 to $445,000 in December, 2009.  The number of homes for sale declined by 16% from last December and the number of homes sold in Redmond increased by 18%.

Home sales in Redmond and East Bellevue have slowed considerably.  The other cities on the eastside have shown an increase in the percentage of home sales, while this area has slowed.

A few quick facts:

• Month with the most number of homes to sell:  January
• Month with the least number of homes to sell:  December
• Month with the most number of homes sold:  September
• Month with the least number of homes sold:  January and December

When I look at the above list, we end the year in much better shape than we started.  The number of homes selling in Redmond and East Bellevue is the same in January and December, 2009, but the number of homes for sale dropped by 108 homes or 33%.  The huge drop in the number of homes for sale mirrors the drop all over the Seattle  eastside.

However, with the passage of a bill giving more widely available tax credits to home buyers, I am expecting the real estate market to be strong during the first part of 2010.  Less homes for sale combined with low interest rates and the tax incentive ought to keep the real estate market humming.

For the full picture of Seattle-Eastside real estate, check out my eastside real estate blog.

What are your thoughts about the Redmond/East Bellevue real estate market in 2009?