Waterfront buyers got off the fence in July. Sales of Gig Harbor’s higher end properties are finally beginning to turn and in fact more homes have closed than last year to date.
Up to July however this segment of the market has been in the doldrums. July’s 11 sales pushed the sales volume up 30% over last year and is only 14% shy of 2007 totals for the month.
The average sales price for all waterfront sales last month was $853,000.
These totals were assisted by four homes selling between $1m and $1.2m. Three of these $1m plus sales were purchased without financing. This is another trend that as Realtors working with the higher end we have seen in the past several months. Buyers with cash leveraged that cash, felt confident and purchased some great properties in the past couple months. Financing is still difficult in the jumbo loan arena, partially because appraisals are difficult with so few sales. This month of activity should help the appraisers.
Most of the sales went under contract in May and June.
It remains to be seen how August closings will show up. There are currently 12 waterfront properties in pending status. But if they all close, we are on the way to having a better year than 2008 when sales closed down in September.
Carole Holmaas is an Associate Broker with Windermere Real Estate in Gig Harbor, specializing in waterfront and view properties.