Buying a home in Whatcom County is more difficult than ever. Here’s why prices are up
The lack of homes for sale in Whatcom County is hitting record levels, according to the latest data.
There was less than one month of inventory available throughout this area at the end of October, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. That means if no other homes came on the market, the existing supply would be gone in under 30 days.
With the lack of inventory, sales prices continued to climb. The median sales price for the Whatcom homes sold in October was $450,000, a 10.8% increase compared to a year ago.
Inventory this low is something Troy Muljat of Muljat Group Commercial doesn’t remember ever seeing before.
“The housing crisis continues to worsen from an inventory and affordability standpoint,” Muljat said in an email.
The inventory that was left in October was disappearing quickly, according to the data. In October, local real estate agents sold 408 condominiums and single-family houses. That’s the second-busiest month this year for sales, with August topping the list with 424 sales. The October sales total is also a 24.8% increase compared to October 2019.
Of the homes that are currently on the market, it’s mostly the higher-end houses, Muljat said. There were 60 houses available in Bellingham on Friday morning, Nov. 6. After throwing out one very large property listing that would skew the numbers, the median list price for the rest of the available houses was still $699,000.
Muljat said buyers from Seattle and Seattle-area suburbs are buying at the same pace as in the past. Buyers who can come in with an all-cash offer have an advantage when there are multiple offers, a situation that is happening often.
The extremely low home inventory isn’t just an issue in Whatcom County; it’s happening across much of the state. Across the 23 counties it serves, the listing service estimates the inventory supply at the end of October to be about three weeks. In Snohomish and Thurston counties, it was less than two weeks.
“Finding and buying a home today is more difficult than at any time in the past 40 years of my career,” said Dick Beeson, RE/MAX agent in the Tacoma area, in a news release accompanying the listing data.
This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
