Fall Real Estate Report

— from Sandi Friel —

Our real estate recovery is in full swing on Orcas Island. Find out what’s selling, who’s buying and for how much.

There’s no doubt the recovery is happening in the Orcas Island real estate market, and with gusto. With 155 sales of homes and vacant land parcels through October, we’ve already exceeded the number of sales in all of 2013. In the third quarter alone, 50 properties sold – the largest number in any period since the ’08 crash. And we’re looking to finish strong as there are currently another 25 properties in escrow.

What’s Selling

Land sales nearly doubled January through September compared to same period last year. Even so, homes continue to outpace vacant land more than 2 to 1. They sell quicker too: the median home is on the market less than three months whereas vacant land is typically taking nearly a year to find a buyer. Well-priced desirable homes are usually snatched up within 30 days.

Although the median house is selling for less than $350k, higher-end properties are moving too–they just take longer. An 80-acre estate on Mt. Woolard sold for $2.25m after two years. And a 40-acre waterfront property that languished on the market for three years sold last month to a California couple for $2.5m – cash.

In contrast, vacant land is generally only selling in the lower dollar range. With a median price of $95k, land sales ranged from a one-acre piece in Olga for $47k to high-bank waterfront in Deer Harbor for $300k.

One of the most notable deals: 16 acres of undeveloped land in Olga sold for $87k. And, talk about clearing out old inventory — a 10-acre Eagle Ridge marine view parcel finally sold for $185k after more than eight years on the market! Its original price was $525k.

Trending

An important positive indicator is the lower number of distressed sales this year. Bank-owned properties and short sales have made up 11% of the 2014 market, compared to 14% in 2013, and 16% in 2012. Currently there are only two bank-owned homes on the market.

Another growing trend is that fewer buyers are local and more are coming from out of state, primarily California. People from Seattle, though, continue to make up about a quarter of all buyers. As Seattle’s population keeps booming, we may see that percentage increase.

Any bad news? For buyers, no, except that there’s now more competition. However, many sellers are still not getting the prices they’d hoped for. Even though most properties are currently selling for 93% of final list price, that’s often after one or more price reductions. If interest rates remain low and demand increases, we’ll start to see the scales slowly tip in favor of sellers.

Bizarre Assessed Values

The assessor’s office has just mailed out its “2014 Notice of Value” to each owner. I analyzed both the new and old assessed values for the properties that sold last quarter and found some startling results: Many of the new assessed values are farther out of line with market values than they were previously! Find out which properties are valued too high or too low in my next post.

This data was compiled using information provided courtesy of NWMLS. You may follow Sandi Friel at OrcasReport.com.