Housing costs climb far from Seattle as remote work takes hold

Employees freed from their desks after companies switched to remote working due to the pandemic are taking their apartment hunting – and cash – further away from Seattle.

Remote areas have seen a boom, from Spanaway to Poulsbo to Orcas Island.

Whatcom County, home of Bellingham, felt the change too.

Remote workers are nothing new in the northwest corner of Washington, but local real estate agents say the pandemic felt like pressing the fast-forward button.

“People flocked to the islands and Whatcom County,” said John L. Scott agent Annie Dameron Pederson. “It became a different market.”

Home buyers come with cash and mountain bikes in tow, Windermere agent Damian Pro said.

“They have this mentality, we want to live our best lives,” said Pro.

With house prices hitting record highs across the country over the past year, West Washington has seen the most staggering growth in areas outside of Seattle.

Last month, the average single-family home in Whatcom County sold for $ 552,550, up about 18% from the same point in time last year and 37% over the same point in time in 2019 before the pandemic, according to the Wednesday of the Northwest Multiple Listing published data service.

Elsewhere, the average home price last month in Snohomish County was $ 675,000, up about 18% year over year. In Pierce County, the median price was $ 506,650, up 16.5%. In Thurston County, the median of $ 470,000 is up 20.5%, according to NWMLS.

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Home prices have also increased in San Juan County, although the low number of sales there can cause the numbers to fluctuate widely. The average home sold for $ 850,000 in September, about 6% less than the same month last year but 6% more than August.

The median of $ 825,600 in King County is up about 10% year over year.

Nevertheless, with the arrival of autumn, the local housing market is cooling down somewhat.

In the Puget Sound area, pending sales were down last month compared to August, and house prices are stagnating month-over-month in most locations.

More apartments were available at the end of September than in August, good news for buyers. But look a little further back for context: there are far fewer homes for sale than at the same time in 2019, before the pandemic.

The measure of how long it would take to sell any home for sale given current demand, known as month-long inventory, rose slightly in Counties King and Pierce, suggesting the market is a little less cutthroat. But this measure still remains at less than three weeks.

Brianna Harvey hasn’t looked back since moving to Bellingham from Seattle last summer.

“As soon as it looked like working from home was going to be a long-term thing, I started looking,” said Harvey, who works in technology and grew up in Bellingham.

She wanted to live closer to friends and family and have faster access to mountain biking and trail running. Even with a 20% down payment, Harvey encountered a tough market when looking for homes within her budget of $ 400,000 to $ 425,000. Eventually she secured a $ 450,000 two-bedroom bungalow.

“My quality of life has definitely improved,” she says.

Redfin agent Cathie Butler said she works with buyers who have moved from California or the Seattle area, many of whom are willing to buy cash in the Bellingham area.

Butler estimates that most homes get eight to twelve offers and sell for about $ 50,000 to $ 60,000 more than their list price.

“It’s starting to cool down, but it’s still super competitive,” she said.

Rising prices drive buyers who need to spend less money looking for alternatives.

“We have more people reaching out to us than ever before,” said Dean Fearing, executive director of the Kulshan Community Land Trust. (In a Community Land Trust, the nonprofit owns the land under the house and the homeowner agrees to receive a limited amount of equity to keep the house affordable in the future.)

“There just aren’t any houses for sale that most workers can afford,” said Fearing.

The Kulshan Community Land Trust is currently building about two dozen new homes and planning 45 over the next three to five years, Fearing said. The hot market makes it difficult for his organization to buy land. The organization’s waiting list ranges from 40 to 70 potential homebuyers.

“We were spotted,” Fearing said of Whatcom County. “People know this is a community they want to move to. People have been doing this for years, but the pandemic, the mobility that made it possible only accelerated it faster. “

The competitive market can intimidate potential sellers and cause them to hold back from moving.

“I hear that a lot, ‘Well, we can’t sell … where are we going?” Said Pro from Windermere.

Priced buyers look beyond Bellingham to Ferndale, Burlington, Sedro-Woolley and Blaine, he said.

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In King County, the Eastside remains red-hot, with the average home price of $ 1.31 million up 26% from the same point in time in 2020, but the number of new sales declined from August. Seattle’s average price of $ 850,000 is up about 4%.

For condominiums, Seattle’s median price of $ 505,000 is up approximately 5% year over year and the eastside median of $ 566,000 is up 3%.

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Rebecca Lieberthal and her husband started looking for a home in the Seattle area last summer when a wave of buyers, attracted by low interest rates, went shopping. The couple made seven offers, sometimes competing with a dozen other offers, before securing their new home in Burien this summer.

“We felt more than excitement that the trial was over,” says Lieberthal, who works as a nurse. As their family grows, they may outgrow the house.

She already said: “I’m afraid of this process again.”