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Mid-Year Housing Market Update
Reflecting back over the first half of 2009, we see a mixture of challenges and opportunities in the local housing market. It is hard to remember a time when so many external forces played such a big role in property values. Employment, liquidity in mortgage markets, interest rates and more have always influenced market values, but today we see increased pressure on prices from those sources. Despite all of the challenging news, people are still moving. Our market is generating about the same level of activity that we saw in 2001, just a couple of years before the housing boom took off. See Chart 1.

One positive influence of the market correction is the opportunities presented to buyers. There are some very well priced homes on the market and buyers are acting quickly when they see them. The challenge is distinguishing the well-priced from the still over-priced home. Despite all of the challenging news, people are still moving. Our market is generating about the same level of activity that we saw in 2001, just a couple of years before the housing boom took off. See Chart 1. We spend a great deal of time studying the market to help our buyers make that distinction and to help our sellers price their homes for success. We continue to find a sizeable gulf between homes that are priced right and those that are not. Those that are priced right have found a buyer in record time – averaging just 28 days.


Those that require at least one price reduction are also setting records, just not enviable ones -averaging 200 days on the market. See Chart 2. Perhaps the most telling number is that overpriced homes are finding buyers in an average of just 30 days once they have found the right price. With such starkly different numbers, it has never been more important to have great knowledge and counsel in a real estate transaction. Our commitment to clients in that regard is paying off. While most real estate companies are flat or shrinking, ours stands alone in significant gains in market share, increasing more than 11% this year. Our company once again ranks as number one in Thurston County home sales. This is achieved by a singular dedication to service excellence.
Our Realestate Blog One way we are helping is by sharing our knowledge on our enhanced real estate blog. It has more market news than ever before. We hope it provides a better understanding of the local real estate market. If you have a moment, please visit the site at: www.coldwellbankerolympia.blogspot.com. We look forward to your thoughts. And as always, thanks for your referrals. We genuinely appreciate your trust and confidence. Now is the time for exposure In any kind of market, exposure for a property is of paramount importance, but it is particularly important in today’s climate. Therefore, it is a bit ironic that more and more people in this profession are pulling in their marketing options. Our company continues to promote our homes through a variety of media. You are probably familiar with our weekly Buyer’s Guide distributed to more than 31,000 households each week in The Olympian. While many are foregoing print these days, we continue to use that source because research shows that more than 50% of buyers use it to search. We choose not to ignore those buyers.
	Marketing Solutions We also provide the latest cutting edge marketing solutions. Our online presence is second to none. We’re the most-visited real estate brand on the Web according to Nielsen’s January-April 2009 NetView Report. Recently, we launched a mobile website that is optimized for today’s hand-held smart phones. With so many people bypassing the PC for their phones, we wanted a site that was optimized for the smaller screen size. People who enjoy searching this way will love our mobile site: www.ColdwellBankerOlympia.com. We are the first to launch such a site. We know this will help our buyers and sellers get connected. ;
We also continue to lead the way in virtual tours. All of our homes are featured with virtual tours, which are favored by the online shopper. Now our tours can be loaded to even more places, like our new Coldwell Banker YouTube Channel, Facebook and more.
Recent Blog Posts $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit is drawing in more buyers, but those who haven’t acted face losing the opportunity. Buyers are seeing the best affordability in more than five years and the sales numbers for June show they are acting on it. Olympia home listings featured in New York’s Times Square. To promote its new mobile website, Coldwell Banker has created an interactive website. Many of our local listings have been featured there. Visit our Blog to read these stories and more about our local housing market. www.coldwellbankerolympia.blogspot.com Thank you for your referrals