Snohomish County home prices reach new high — again

EVERETT — Housing prices continue to climb in Snohomish County reaching never-seen-before heights.

Median prices for houses and condos reached $430,000 for July, up from $385,000 for the same month a year ago, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Services.

That’s an 11.7 percent increase year-over-year. It’s also a $10,000 increase on the same numbers in June, when the median price was $420,000.

“We should be entering the summer doldrums, but I don’t see that happening,” Diedre Haines, principal managing broker-south Snohomish County at Coldwell Banker Bain in Lynnwood, said in a statement.

The median price for closed sales for all homes surpassed $400,000 for the first time this year in April. Prices have been rising steadily ever since.

Last month, a news story in the Orange County Register in Anaheim, California, reported that Snohomish County trailed only King County in the nation for the shortest amount of time a home was on the market. The report citing numbers from Realtor.com said that houses sold in 20 days. Houses in King County sold in 19 days. Arapahoe County east of Denver came in third at 23 days.

Home prices vary greatly with location, with homes in south Snohomish County costing far more than homes in the north.

Almost all of the county saw double-digit price increases year-over-year. The biggest jump was for the Multiple Listing Service area along the U.S. 2 corridor. There, housing prices rose to $433,000, up from $322,475 a year ago, or a 34.3 percent increase.

The only listing service area that did not see a double-digit increase was the one around Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace in south Snohomish County. There, prices reached $470,000, up from $444,000 a year ago, or an increase of just under 6 percent.

The median prices for houses alone is $453,000 for all of the county. The median prices for condos is $323,475, according to the numbers released Monday.

One of the reasons for the climbing prices is a lack of inventory. Only 1,759 Snohomish County homes were on the market for July. That’s down 10.7 percent from the same month a year ago when there were 1,969 homes.

“Inventory remains low, but prices and demand continue to increase, prompting murmurs of a looming bubble,” Haines said, adding, “Some say yes, and just as many are saying no” when asked about the likelihood of a bubble.

In some areas, inventory is showing some signs of growth, Haines noted, but it’s still “way below what would be considered anywhere near normal. Frankly, I am not even sure anymore exactly what normal is — perhaps the current low inventory status is the new normal.”