New Construction Market Overview

Snohomish County has seen diminishing amount of lots sales through the first 3 quarters of 2007 and it is estimated there will be little change when 4th quarter numbers come out.

There are 5,796 news and/or vacant lots available in Snohomish County (these do not include the volume of resales currently available of 5,968). This equates to 4.5 month supply of standing new construction where builders are only selling 253 units per month, half the normal rate. Builders have been slashing prices as well as offering buyer incentives to aid in selling their homes.

The standing inventory, providing nothing changes in the market place, constitutes a 22.9 supply, meaning if no new projects become available current inventory will be gone by Sept-Oct of 2009. It is highly unlikely that that would happen since Snohomish County has many building/growth opportunities in the Marysville, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Arlington and Stanwood areas.

Look for building to continue just not at the pace it has been in years past but also watch to see if it picks up. With the FED cutting rates, which had minimal effect, the real estate industry could turn around at any time.