Mercer Island September Single Family Home Sales Highest Since 2005

Home sales typically slow down at the end of the summer, but local realtors closed the books on one of the busiest Septembers in nearly a decade as 31 single-family homes and one condo were sold on Mercer Island.

The median home price of a single-family home actually increased month-to-month 18.5 percent from $825,000 to $1,012,000 and rose 35.4 percent higher than the same month a last year.

The last time Mercer Island saw as strong a September for home sales was in 2005 — before the Great Recession — when 42 single-family homes sold.

It was the second time this year the median price of a single-family home sold on Mercer Island rose above $1 million in 2012.

The strong sales are keeping local sales on-track for their highest number since the start of the recession.

Pending sales, where an offer was accepted by the homeowner but the title has not yet been signed over to the buyer, were 36.6 percent higher than last year. Pending sales are generally seen as a good indicator of market activity but in recent years are far less predictive of closed sales due mainly to more restrictive lending practices.

A low inventory of homes — and very few, affordable condos — for sale and an increased number of closed sales seems to be helping stoke a gradual median price rise over the course of the year with demand at its highest in summer months. This June, for example saw 11.9 percent fewer homes for sale from a total of 119 properties; there were 135 homes on the market in 2011.

According to Redfin.com the mean value of local homes sold was 95 percent of asking price, and a increasing number of homes (39 percent) that are sold had offered a price reduction.

The most expensive home sold on Mercer Island was a 3-acre estate called “Harmony at Proctor” at 3221 Proctor Lane in the East Seattle neighborhood. A 11,000 square-foot waterfront mansion with 3 bedrooms and 4.75 bathrooms, which sold for $21,600,000 on Sept. 20, is the largest of a handful of houses on the property and includes several hundred feet of shoreline and a dock.

The least expensive home that sold was a modest, 1950s two-bedroom, one-bathroom house on 1/4 acre, sold for $359,000 on Sept. 27. The house, located in the Mid-Island area at 4702 88th Ave. SE., is 1,170 square-feet in size.

As of Oct. 9, there were 113 residential properties on Mercer Island were listed for sale, according to Redfin.com. Only eight properties for sale are condominiums, ranging in price from $152,000 to $389,950. Single-family homes range in price from $475,000 to just under $9.99 million.