BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THE MARKET IS QUITE HEALTHY

Happy New Year from Bainbridge Island! 

As we look forward to 2024, it’s helpful to know how 2023 performed so we can understand the island housing market’s momentum going into the new  year. 

Following the news headlines all year was confirmation that we humans have successfully evolved by noticing danger and focusing on it (psychologists call this negativity bias). As such, there were plenty of “sky is falling” takeaways from news outlets. 

On the other hand, folks like me tend to focus on the silver lining, and the Bainbridge Island housing market had plenty of that. Here are my headline takeaways as we look forward to new beginnings:

• The average home sale price was 100.8% of the list price (during the peak buying season of April through September, the average sale was nearly 2.5% over list price)
• Only 6% of 2023's home sales closed for more than 10% over list price compared to an average of 3% of sales doing so before the pandemic (2021 recorded an astounding 38% of homes selling for at least 10% over list price)  
• About half the homes sold in a week or less (before 2020, from 2015-2019, the average was just one-third of homes sold that fast) 
• Months of Supply – a measure of the pace of the market; 4-6 being balanced between buyers and sellers and lower means more favorable to sellers – averaged 2.1 for 2023 (before 2020, from 2015-2019, the average was 2.4) 
• The average price of a single-family home sale rose 7% over 2022 (with exceptional confidence shown in the highest end of the market) 
• The average price of a condominium rose 18% over 2021 (ignoring 2022’s skewed data)

I will concede that the market feels much slower than it has in a long time. The reason it does, however, is because the number of new listings, pending sales and closed sales are all down about third from pre-pandemic norms. Yet, they are all down in proportion to each other. 

Imagine being at Disneyland on a day when the crowds are at the lowest level imaginable and as a result, a significant number of rides are closed. The wait times will still be “normal,” and the excitement on the rides will still deliver the thrill you expect. 

In other words, for the folks on the rides, the experience is the same as a day with large crowds and all the rides open. So please ignore the doomsday headlines and know that it’s still a good time to sell and that buying on Bainbridge Island will always be a solid long-term investment. 

And in 2024, please let me know what you need to know about your specific niche of the Bainbridge Island housing market; I’d be delighted to have coffee with you and share my perspective about your individual situation. 

Make sure to click below to see Windermere Real Estate’s Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner, give his Top 10 Predictions for 2024. 

Finally, please check out my Bainbridge Market Report Year in Review below for all the metrics and analysis on last year’s sales. It’s packed full of great insight.

Thanks,

Jason

P.S. Sharing the love from a past client:

I hired Jason because of his background, ethics and his testimonials that (proved to be true!) said he didn’t blow hot air. He took the time to get to know me and put my happiness first and was clearly more concerned with what worked for me rather than just getting a sale.

Jason’s sincerity, his transparency, his honesty, his attention to my needs and desires, his continual communication, and his professionalism.....I would recommend him to anyone looking to buy a home! Buying a new home isn't easy, but Jason made it as problem-free as possible.

• Melinda Kasraie