Olympia WA home prices for December 2012

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Olympia WA home prices for December 2012 and looking at the entire 2012 year in real estate, is a little bit boring!

As I’ve written for months, the average home price in Olympia has remained stable the past year, and has been between $230,000 and $235,000 for an average sales price.

Inventory numbers are still very low.  There are fewer homes on the market for buyers to choose from, and the quality of homes for sale makes it even more difficult with many listed homes being short-sales or bank-owned properties. In many areas of Thurston County, we are seeing signs of it being a seller’s market due to the lack of inventory.

Here is this month’s real estate market report for Olympia WA in Thurston County by Francine Viola of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty.

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Olympia Home Prices

As I’ve been reporting, the Olympia real estate market has stabilized and is beginning to show measurable signs of improvement.  Since the highest point of our sales prices in 2007, the market has been in a decline since then.  Noting that prices have stopped falling downward indicates, along with other factors, that a recovery is on its way.

Olympia Home Prices December 2012

 

Low inventory in the Olympia real estate market

At the highest point in the Olympia real estate market, the market was flooded with homes for sale and there were not enough buyers to absorb the inventory.  With inventory numbers low, some sellers in Thurston County are experiencing a sellers’ market.

Inventory in Olympia WA December 2012

Currently, the Olympia real estate market has 946 homes listed for sale.

In Olympia’s “hot” seller’s market in 2004-2006, our inventory levels were between 675 and 1,000.  But the difference between 2004-2006 and now is currently out of the 946 homes for sale, 18% of these listings are short-sales and bank-owned properties.  In 2004-2006, the Olympia real estate market didn’t have anywhere near this number of distressed properties on the market.  Therefore this makes our current inventory levels even lower.  Not all buyers can or want to buy short-sales with the uncertainty of the close date, and the condition of the property is also a major concern for buyers who want a turn-key home.

 

Olympia Real Estate Report Summary

  • The average sales price in December 2012 in Olympia is $232,158.
  • Average Days On Market in December in Olympia (for homes priced right) is 28 days.

For listings that needed a price reduction, the average days on market was 172 days.  What this tells sellers is to price the home according to the market conditions.  Sellers who priced right not only realized a sale, on average, in 28 days but also sold at, on average, 98.1% of their list price.  The sellers who had to reduce their listing prices saw lesser gains of 79.5% of their original list price and waited almost ten times as long to sell.

  • Active Inventory (the number of homes for sale) is 946.

The “hot” seller’s market saw inventory levels at 675 in December 2004.  And at the peak of our “artic cold” seller’s market saw inventory levels soar at 2,333 in August 2007.

 

Find Homes for Sale in Olympia WA

Visit my website to search for homes in Olympia WA or sign up and get notified when Olympia homes that meet your criteria come up on the market.  This is a great service to have especially since inventory numbers are dropping.  Be the first to know of a new listing!

To find out what your home is worth in the current Olympia real estate market, email or call me today at (360) 359-0689.