| 2008 By the Numbers
- Reported more than 54,000 closed sales, valued at nearly $20 billion (p.28).
- Maintained a high ratio of cross-sales: nearly eight of every 10 transactions (79 percent) were listed by one office and sold by a different office (p.3).
- Expanded and enhanced database "green features," enabling searches for properties with environmental certifications, energy efficient features and sustainable materials.
- Reported an area-wide median price of $305,000 for single-family homes and condos that sold last year, down about 6 percent from 2007 (p.22). Since 2002, the median price for home sales in counties served by NWMLS is up 50% or more (p.35).
- Added 137,278 new listings of SFH and condos to inventory, (pp. 6-7).
- Represented more than 47,000 home sellers, on average, each month (p.9).
- Reported 1,171 sales of single family homes and 106 sales of condominiums priced at $1 million or more. 598 condos sold for $500,000 or more (p.30).
- The MLS area covering Bellevue/West of 405 (map area 520) had the highest number of million dollar-plus sales with 120, followed by Mercer Island with 101. For high-end condos ($500,000-plus), Belltown claimed the highest number of sales involving MLS member-brokers (158 units) (p. 30). (Many pre-sales by builders are not reflected here)
- Among the 19 counties in the MLS service area, San Juan claimed the highest median price ($510,000) for single family homes that sold last year; King County followed at $429,950 (p.20).
- Among school districts, homes on Mercer Island had the highest median selling price, at $1,025,000; homes in the Wilson Creek district in Grant County had the lowest median selling price ($84,900). Comparison of price ranges shows wide variation between districts within the same county (pp. 36-41).
- In the four-county Puget Sound region (King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap), only about 7.3 percent of single family homes sold for under $200,000 (p.23).
- Sold more than 8,500 condominiums during 2008; approximately 60 percent of all condos that sold system-wide were in King County. (p.20); 76 percent had two or fewer bedrooms (p.29)
- Found wide variation in prices of 3-bedroom homes. For pre-owned homes (built 2005 or earlier), the median sales price ranged from $144,250 in Grant Co. to $575,000 in San Juan Co. Newly built homes ranged from $162,949 to $432,000 (p.31)
- In King County, the average price of a single family home that sold in 2008 was $527,322; in 1997, the price was $230,345 and in 1990 it was $178,187 (p.33-34).
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