Leavenworth Condo Report

Prices for Leavenworth Condos have continued their upward trend in prices despite a glut of new construction condos on the market.

This report is for the first quarter of 2008 and includes Kahler Glen condos as well as Leavenworth projects like Aspen Suites at Icicle Junction, RiverPark Homes in Leavenworth, Alpine Village, SkiView Condos on Titus Road, and The Boulders on Alpensee Strasse.

First quarter sales volume has been fairly consistent the past few years. This year 5 condos sold in the first 3 months, with 3 selling in 2007, 4 in 2006 and 2 in 2005.

The big news which has been mentioned here before is the number of new condos on the market in Leavenworth. 59 units were active on the MLS during the 1st quarter, despite Aspen Suites removing their condos from the MLS.

Prices continue to march upward. In 2005, the average condo was $121,000 and now it has risen to $284,000. Median prices have risen as well to $300,000 for 2008.

As of April 6, there are currently 51 condominiums available on the MLS at an average asking price of $420,000.

I expect that condos zoned for commercial use (and vacation rentals) will continue to sell well, especially those closest in price to the median sales price. Condominiums priced between $250,000 and $350,000 will remain popular, while others may continue to sit.

Other Leavenworth Real Estate Articles and Information

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Leavenworth Real Estate Stats for Q1 2008

Leavenworth real estate prices for both houses and condos have continued their upward trend in the first quarter of 2008. This includes the area from Peshastin to Stevens Pass including Lake Wenatchee, Fish Lake and Plain.

In the past, I have focused on comparing year to year trends, but this quarter I decided to compare 2008 to the past few years.

As you can see, home prices (both average and median) were a bit down in Q1 of 2007, but have rebounded in 2008. We have seen average home prices (for single family stick built homes) go from an average of $251,000 in 2005 to $420,000 - a 67% increase!

Inventory of single family homes went up 8% from last year to 131 active listings, but new listings were down considerably (31%). I think the national news is convincing some folks to hold off on selling their home if they don't really need to right now.

The number of houses that sold during the first quarter is up from 20 to 24 (a 20% increase), but down from 25 in 2006 and 32 in 2005.

As of April 6, there are 80 homes for sale in the Leavenworth area at an average price of $589,000.

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Leavenworth Real Estate - No Fire Sale

Real estate has been in the national news of late. The National Association of Realtors recently announced that existing home sales are at the lowest point in 9 years.

Sounds like great news for buyers and real estate investors hoping to buy at a low point in the market. It would be, if it were true in Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee.

This summer I reported a slowdown in the Leavenworth real estate market . At the time we had 135 single family homes for sale and a deluge of newly constructed condos.

Fast forward to this Winter and the Leavenworth real estate market looks a little different. This isn't spin from a rosy glassed Realtor, the real data look very encouraging.

Stealing from Howie Mandel - Let's play Deal or No Deal

No Deal (Inventory is low, demand is high)

Lake Wenatchee waterfront homes

Fish Lake Homes

Riverfront property on the Wenatchee River or Chiwawa River or Icicle Creek

Cabins - almost anywhere

Building lots in Ponderosa or Chiwawa River Pines

Condos at Kahler Glen

Horse property

If you own a property like this and want to sell, please don't hesitate to call. The market demand is high.

Deal (Inventory is high, demand is low)

New construction condos

Condos zoned multi-family

Houses located within the city limits of Leavenworth

Steep land

If are looking for a deal, look here. If you are selling, you need to hire the best agent you can and price your property aggressively.

Leavenworth Real Estate Heating Up

Real estate in Leavenworth is heating up again after a lull this fall. Our phones and email accounts have been busy hearing from folks looking to buy property in Leavenworth, Lake Wenatchee and Cashmere. The buzz around the Leavenworth Windermere office has been really positive so I decided to see what the numbers look like.

The year over year numbers for January and early February are pretty interesting. Granted, it's a small market and the sample sizes are pretty small, but the statistics about the Leavenworth real estate market confirm what we suspected.

Leavenworth Homes for Sale

The number of homes for sale in Leavenworth is down from the summer and fall. We peaked at 135 homes (single family residential - not condos, or manufactured homes.) In January we had 89 homes for sale and today we have 71. Some sellers have given up trying to sell in this market, some sellers are waiting for better weather and some home sellers are.. actually selling their homes! We have also seen a decline in the number of new homes placed on the market. Last year 25 homes came on the market during the 1st 1.5 months, this year it's only been 21.

Leavenworth Homes Selling in 2008

What excites me the most is not that overpriced homes are being pulled from the market, but that homes are selling. The same number of homes have closed year to date as last year (7) but the number of homes under contract or pending is up considerably. Last year 13 homes were under contract in this period but this year it is up to 21. A 60+% increase is pretty amazing.

I think it is truly amazing when you consider that the avalanches that closed Stevens Pass and Snoqualmie pass kept many of our buyers from visiting from Western Washington for a couple of weekends.

Home Prices Up

Despite day after day of bad national housing news, prices in Leavenworth have gone up astronomically year over year. Granted we only had a sample size of 7, but prices appear to have risen 35%. I think that number will moderate after we get more closings, but we won't be seeing price decreases in Leavenworth homes any time soon.

Leavenworth Real Estate - 2007 Year in Review

Real Estate in Leavenworth in 2007 - in a nutshell, prices up, volume down. (While these numbers might change with an additional last minute recording or two, I think the trends will remain the same.)

I have mentioned it before, but as expected 2007 was the Year of the New Condo for Leavenworth. Notable projects included the condos at Icicle Junction (Aspen Suites), the Boulders at Alpensee Strasse, the River Park Homes (affectionately known as the big yellow building), and Ski View on Titus. All these brand new condos certainly brought the price up for the "average" condo. The average condo price was up 45% to $294,000 from 2006s $201,000.

Perhaps more interesting, is what remains. Only 24 condos sold in Leavenworth in 2007, a mere 4 more than in 2006. 49 condominiums remain on the market with a few more projects slated for 2008. The average condo on the market today is $420,000. Does that market exist in Leavenworth? I'm not sure that it does. Only 3 condos sold above $350,000 last year and none above $400,000.

Single family home prices continued to climb in price, while the number of homes sold slowed. The average sales price was up 18% for homes in Leavenworth. The average price is now $415,000 up from $351,000 for 2006.

But price is not the only story. The number of homes sold is down 23% from the following year. The time on market is longer as well. The average days on market for a home in Leavenworth is now 139 days, up 30 days from 2006 when it only took 109 days. Sellers continue to get approximately 97% of their listing price as the final sales price.

Here's one positive and surprising trend. All the "Price Reduced" signs you see around the neighborhood - not indicative of the market. The average price reduction for single family homes in Leavenworth actually dropped in 2007. In 2006, the average home seller in Leavenworth dropped their price 7.06%, in 2007 that number dropped to 6.8%. This number coupled with raising prices tells me that Leavenworth home owners remain confident about the market, despite gloomy real estate news on a national level.

What will 2008 bring to the Leavenworth real estate market? I think much depends on external forces. What will the U.S. economy do? How will the stock market fare? How will the technology companies like Microsoft, Adobe, and Nintendo do?

I tend to think we will see a slight increase in prices with longer market times and about the same number of homes sold in 2008 as in 2007. (Check back in January 2009 to see if I'm right.)