Despite government help, here’s how many Whatcom residents fell behind in house payments
While government interventions and stimulus funds kept foreclosures at bay during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Whatcom County homeowners falling behind in mortgage payments rose throughout much of 2020.
At the end of last year, 3.2% of Whatcom County homeowners were at least 30 days behind on mortgage payments, according to data from Core Logic. A year earlier that rate was at 1.4%.
Serious delinquencies, which are more than 90 days behind in mortgage payments, was at 2.2 percent in Whatcom County at the end of 2020. In December 2019, that rate was 1.3%.
According to Core Logic’s data, Whatcom’s mortgage delinquencies took off at the beginning of the pandemic, with those falling 30 days behind totaling 4.5% percent in May. It’s been steadily declining as the year wore on, but remaining at levels last seen in 2015.
Here’s a roundup of other Whatcom County real estate data:
Bellingham housing still hot
In trying to determine how hot Bellingham’s real estate market is for sellers, Braden Gustafson, senior appraiser at Gustafson & Associates, compiled some Northwest Multiple Listing Service data for March 1-15 that shows it is not cooling off.
In looking at new listings, he discovered that 59% of Bellingham houses and condominiums were off the market within a week. A year ago, that percentage was 35%. In 2019, it was 30%.
The percentage of homes sold above asking price during the March 1-15 period has jumped from 28% in 2020 to 51% in 2021.
The percentage of homes that sold for more than $50,000 above asking price for the same period jumped from 2% in 2020 to 8% in 2021.
Offers above listing price
Low inventory is a big factor in why Whatcom’s real estate is very much a seller’s market, with so many getting offers above the original listing price. It’s also a nationwide issue.
A recent study by the Inspection Support Network found that for every 10,000 homes in the Bellingham metro area (Whatcom County), 104 were for sale in 2020. That’s below the national average of 124 for every 10,000.
For metro areas of similar size, Bellingham ranks around the middle of the pack — 106th out of 198 areas studied. The metro area with the most homes to sell last year was Panama City, Florida, with 522 homes available for every 10,000. The area with the least number of available homes was Appleton, Wisconsin, with 40 homes available for every 10,000.
No rental property bargains
With so little inventory and prices rising, the Bellingham metro area is also not a place to find rental property bargains. According to a new study from Construction Coverage, this area is ranked 10th worst for buying rental property compared to similar metro areas.
The analysis found that the average gross rental yield in the Bellingham metro area was 3.5% in 2020, compared to the national average of 6.3%. Bellingham had a composite score of 66.4, while top metro areas of similar size were in the high 80s.
