The monthly Ballard real estate recap

Long time Ballard resident and local Real Estate Broker Sharon Giampietro will be sharing a post on My Ballard each month to keep readers informed about the local real estate market. Giampietro comes from a long line of realtors and has lived in Ballard for 30 years. She is currently a Broker at Windermere Real Estate in Greenwood.

Check out Giampietro’s recap of how Greater Ballard fared this month below:

Summer is finally here, and with it the start of a traditionally slower Real Estate cycle. In June, it wasn’t surprising to see the number of listings at 260, down from May’s number of 278.  The number of sales, at 194, was also down a bit from 202 in May. New construction, although still modest in numbers, is providing some alternatives for buyers with 50 new units added (residential and condo combined) in June – about twice the number added last month and last year at this time. It seems like new construction is popping up all over the area, a striking sight after several years of very little building during the real estate downturn. The number of condos listed stayed constant (just over 60 added) as did the number sold (about 40).   Our housing supply continues to be under 1.5 months, however, and it is still a seller’s market with pre-inspections and multiples offers common.

Prices, on the other hand, are not slowing down! The average price of a residential home went up again from $539,000 in May, to $571,000 in June, a 5% rise this month alone and just over a 15% rise in the first 6 months of this year. (All of 2013 saw a 10% rise).  For buyers, hope springs that rising prices will result in more inventory as “on the fence” homeowners contemplate listing.  Buyers are waiting for more choices and wishing for a slowdown in prices.  Many sellers are happy to see their home values come up and buyers are being prepared by their Real Estate Brokers to meet the realities of today’s market.

Condos, short sales and bank owned properties have in the past, provided lower cost ways to buy homes in the greater Ballard area. For condos, prices were up again this month from an average sale price of $286,000 last month to $304,000 in June this month, about a 5% increase. Less than 5% of sales this month were short sales or bank owned, signaling a continued downward trend in this housing stock. Relatively low interest rates are still available. It may be a good time for buyers and sellers to check in with their lenders to get their take on what to anticipate in the next 6 months in this vital part of the home buying process.

Greater Ballard is Greenwood, Green Lake, Wallingford and other close by neighborhoods identified as “705” in the NWMLS.  All residential and condo numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand and unless noted does not include new construction. Statistics not compiled or published by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.