Vashon Homes & Events from Go! Real Estate

Vashon Island Homes for Sale: Beware of Market Reports

December 4, 2008 at 4:53 am Leave a comment

Cindy Zetts of the Seattle Times Real Estate Section provides an important perspective on the plethora of home sale market analyses that are flooding the newspapers.  She writes of three such reports that were published during Thanksgiving week, each purporting to signal trends in the market.

Vashon and Seattle home sellers are well-advised to read deeply and with some skepticism the conflicting reports of the state of the local housing market.  For example, one report cited by Zetts is a national report which does not break out Seattle market data.  In fact, Seattle’s housing market has performed BETTER than the national statistics for home sales and has trailed the rest of the country in the number of foreclosures.  A second report cited by Zetts lumps Seattle’s housing market statistics together with California, Nevada and Arizona.  In fact, the economies of each of these States is unique and bears little relevance to the many localized factors which affect the Seattle market.  Finally, Zetts cites a national report which is based in changes in average, not median prices.  Such data is easily skewed by extreme highs and lows in the data set and renders the conclusions of the report useless to local home sellers.

Take for example the front page article in the November 28 edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer trumpeting that commerical property are facing a mortgage meltdown.  Commercial property has long been viewed as an indicator and precursor of trends in the local housing market. A Seattle reader might be tempted to read the article as a comment on the local commercial property market.  However, close reading of the alarming article shows that it was actually pulled off the Associated Press, based in Washington, DC, recites analyses of commercial data in Michigan, Georgia, California, New York and Texas.

While this article bears notice for the prudent Seattle market participant, it is untouched by specific data pertaining to the Seattle market.  In this writer’s view, it would be a travesty for the headline to adversely influence local market decisions with more Seattle-specific analysis.     

Ms. Zetts has performed a timely service to Seattle area home sellers in cautioning against accepting the conclusions of these reports as a basis for making home sales or purchasing decisions.  The consumers best bet is to consult with local experts with a finger on the pulse of the local housing market.

Entry filed under: • Real Estate, Housing Market News, Real Estate Statistics. Tags: Seattle home market statistics, Seattle homes for sale, seattle real estate market, Vashon home market statistics, Vashon real estate.