Real Estate

Mercer Island July 2013 Home Prices Continue to Rise

Mercer Island home prices are increasing fast in the busiest home buying period of the year, nearing the 2007 peak.

Home sales prices continue to rise on Mercer Island in July 2013 as buyers continue to fuel a real estate market recovery with a near-record low number of homes on the market, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Traditionally one of Mercer Island's busiest real estate months of the year, thirty-four houses and condos sold in July on Mercer Island for a median price of $962,500, a 22.4 percent increase over last year. Sales of single-family homes continue to drive the market with 29 sold at a median price of $1,055,000, a 3.6 percent increase and the highest since the housing market's peak price in 2007 ($1,164,500). Five condos sold at a median price of $297,000, a 25 percent drop from last year.

The median price for a house or condo in King County last month was $398,888, a gain of 17.3 percent.

Realtors reported a month-to-month slowing of 34 home sales in July on Mercer Island, compared to June's flurry of 50 sales, but higher than last July's 30 homes sold. Only 123 homes were on the real estate market in July — one of the smallest July totals in recent history, according to NWMLS statistics. The number of new listings, however, is increasing — up to 67, compared to 55 in July 2012, a sign that an increasing number of sellers will return to the market, offering buyers more choices.

Across the state, Realtors speculated that a 27.5 percent increase in closed sales was partly the result of rising interest rates, with rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rising a full point in May and June from around 3.5 up to 4.5 percent, according to a NWMLS press release.

“We experienced a mini power surge of sales activity that was touched off by a sudden raise of interest rates during the month of May,” observed J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. Scott attributes part of the surging activity to buyers who rushed forward to purchase a home before rates climb higher. He also reported more sellers are listing their homes “due to the realization that the next home they purchase will be at a higher interest rate.”  As these sellers become buyers, they’re contributing to the “positive cyclone of sales activity,” Scott stated.

Mercer Island’s pending sales —often viewed as a sign of market activity but less so in recent years as home loans became more difficult to secure — held steady in July compared to last year, with 38 offers under contract. In King County, pending sales jumped 14.8 percent.


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