Is it possible that we have seen the end of houses in Bellevue priced at less than $500k?  This was the Bellevue Homes Report that I posted at A New Day Real Estate early this morning:

In the past couple of days, there has been 20 new single family residences in Bellevue listed for sale on the NWMLS used by local real estate professionals to market and sell properties.  This is good news and a short trend of increasing home inventory that I would like to see continue for awhile.  These 20 newly listed Bellevue homes range in price from $542k to $1,999,995, with the average asking price at $889,336 and median asking price of $775k.

While 20 new SFR were listed, 6 were sold (closings) and 6 others went ‘Pending’ or ‘Pending Inspection’.   The sales that closed ranged in price from $466,200 to $972,526, with an average sales price of $755,621.

Out of the 111 Bellevue ‘houses’ on the market, there are currently only 6 listings that are priced at less than $500k.  Four of those properties are townhomes and come with HOA fees and I don’t consider them houses – they are really condos in disguise.  One of the two Bellevue houses that are priced at less than half a million dollars is in the Renton school district, which is not as desirable as the highly rated Bellevue School District.  That leaves only one house in Bellevue, in the Bellevue School District that is priced less than $500k.  Could this be the last house in Bellevue priced under half a million?

Probably not, but …. prices are going up, inventory is still low and demand seems to be getting stronger.  Even neighborhoods in Bellevue that in the past might have seemed less desirable are now in high demand and homes in good condition are fetching top prices.

I’d love to hear your opinion, will this be the last house in Bellevue priced under half a million?

According to a post this morning on A New Day Real Estate’s Bellevue Condo Report, half of the condos listed for sale in Bellevue are located at Washington Square in downtown Bellevue.

Although there are 140 condo properties in Bellevue listed for sale, a few of them are at 55+ communities and one of them is a boat slip in Newport Shores.  Listings at Washington Square account for 69 other properties, leaving the remainder condo inventory in Bellevue at super low levels.

Today on the Bellevue Rental Report at A New Day Real Estate, I talk about the lack of properties in Bellevue being offered for lease on the NWMLS.

Low rental inventory and very strong and increasing rents makes it a good time to be a landlord in Bellevue.  If you are considering renting your investment property and would like some information about A New Day Real Estate’s property management services, please let me know.

Yesterday on the blog at A New Day Real Estate, I posted the most recent Bellevue Homes Report.  I pointed out that last week I had been prematurely optimistic about the number of homes coming on the market in Bellevue and that inventory had once again declined.

A couple of interesting statistics about single family homes in Bellevue:

1) yesterday there were only 3 homes in all of Bellevue that are listed for sale at less than $500,000 – today there is only 1.  Will we be soon seeing the last sales for less than half a million in Bellevue?

2) As of yesterday, the average asking price of the 87 Bellevue houses on the market was $2.2 million.

Read the rest of the post and watch the video here.

I’ve got exciting news for people looking to buy houses in Bellevue!  Despite the recently lack of inventory on the market to choose from over the past few months, it looks like there may be some changes coming around.  The inventory numbers are still low – there are only 99 single family homes listed for sale in Bellevue.  The good news is that there have been 12 new listings of homes for sale in Bellevue added over the last day.  That is a significant percentage of increase in listings by itself, but it is my belief that this is just a sign that the local Bellevue real estate market is really going to start moving.  I expect that we will continue to see a good number of home owners put their houses in Bellevue up for sale in the next few months – offering home buyers a much better selection from which to choose.

With the limited inventory we’ve been seeing, buyers just have not had a lot to choose from – and properly priced and prepared for market homes have been commanding high prices and often multiple offers.  More inventory usually means less competition, so this may be a good time for Bellevue home buyers to be working with a good broker who will make sure they see all the new listings in their target area the same day they hit the market.  Even if you are not quite ready to purchase a home, it never hurts to start doing your research early.

Bellevue neighborhoods with new home listings in the last day include a few in Somerset, Forest Ridge, Microsoft, Newport Hills, Cougar Mountain, Newport Shores, a bankruptcy house in Surrey Downs, Enatai, Beaux Arts and West Bellevue.  If you would like to be notified when new homes go on the market in a certain part of Bellevue or the Eastside, please give me a call at 425-429-8590 or send me an email at Joe(at)ANewDayRealEstate.com.