Market Update - 10.18.22

CONTINUED LOW INVENTORY AND HIGH DEMAND

To date, the 2022 Lake Chelan Real Estate market has displayed the same forces as past years: low inventory and high demand.

Even with rising interest rates and the global uncertainties brought on by the war in Ukraine, the market pushed ahead, displaying only minor signs of slowing.

Inventory of residential homes remained, on average, at a scant 39 for the year (the same as in 2021).  This resulted in continued median price increases (up 16.6%) and a drop in the total number of sales (down 17.2%). There were not enough homes to meet the demand.

However, the macro effects of war and price of money did slow the rise of home prices. The graph below shows a plateau developing in the median home price around $800,000. (This graph shows a twelve month average for each data point which smooths out month-to-month swings.)

While there may have been fewer bidding wars in 2022, the pace of sales didn’t slow appreciably. The median days on market hovered over the spring/summer season between 8 and 12 days.

Looking ahead, one of the most telling graphs for 2022 may be the volume of pending monthly sales.  2022 is the first year in ten that didn’t record a monthly volume of pending sales over 20 homes.  This ties into both the lack of inventory and the macroeconomic factors.

Should a recession arrive in 2023, it would slow sales further and allow a rebalancing of the market. The market is starved for homes. However, the effects of such a drop will likely take some time to hit the Lake Chelan market fully, based on previous downturns.

The bottom line for home sellers is now is a good time to get serious about listing.  The demand for quality homes will remain, but finding a buyer may require more patience.

Learn our team’s approach to home selling at SellChelan.com.