The Luxury Portfolio Fine Property Collection recognized Tere Foster of Windermere Real Estate as the agent with the most new luxury listings in North America for the year 2009. Tere received the award at the Luxury Portfolio Summit in Las Vegas this week.  Top agents from all over the country and the world met to discuss the state of the luxury market and trends in real estate and design. All signs are pointing towards a stronger year in 2010 for the luxury market. The Seattle area has already seen some significant sales activity on the waterfront and we expect the second and third quarters to continue that momentum. Luxury Portfolio (http://www.luxuryportfolio.com) is the largest affiliation of luxury brokerages in the world and is part of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World (http://www.leadingre.com).

It’s a great day to be a homebuyer! The 1st time buyer tax credit was set to expire in just a few weeks. But, Congress extended the credit until April 30, 2010. The new law also increases the income limits from $75,000 to $125,000 for single persons and from $150,000 to $225,000 for married couples.

 Congress also expanded the credit to include current home owners. They will qualify for a tax credit of up to $6,500 if they purchase a home by April 30, 2010. “These homebuyers must have lived in their home for five consecutive years over the previous eight years to qualify. Qualified homebuyers can get the credit if they purchase a home for $800,000 or less as their primary residence between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010. The income limits are the same as the First Time Homebuyer listed above” according to the National Association of Realtors.

To learn more please see the following links: http://www.warealtor.org/media/tax_credit/FAQ-Tax-Credit-changes.pdf

Forbes selected Seattle as one of the safest cities in the country. Read all about the list and the criteria here:  http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/26/safest-cities-ten-lifestyle-real-estate-metros-msa.html

1st time buyers, or those who have not owned property in three years should hurry up and make their purchasing decisions. The $8,000 tax credit expires on November 30 so buyers should be under contract by October 15 to meet this deadline. Read more about the credit in the latest issue of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine http://www.seattlemet.com/real-estate/articles/real-estate-tax-credit-1009/

The Seattle Times covered the “summer surge” in West Bellevue home sales last month.

House sales were up 5% from August of 2008. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2009809922_homesales05.html

The Times noted that the West Bellevue market has become more affordable for many buyers. The median home price is down from $1.6 million to $915,000. This data was taken from the monthly sales report by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The luxury waterfront sales season got a late start this year in the Pacific Northwest. Typically the season starts the opening weekend of boating season in early May. The Seattle area had a bit of a weather shift with winter snow continuing into spring, so that pushed us to a late start into June. However, once the challenging winter left us and we entered a fabulous warm and beautiful summer and that brought out the luxury waterfront buyers. 

 

The activity with luxury waterfront properties really picked up in the month of July and has continued to be strong through the whole summer. There have been four sales above $5 million this season. Two of these have been on Mercer Island. One estate sold above $15 million and one sold at $5.950 million (http://www.fosterrealty.com/scripts/property_detail.cfm?id=684&Nav=sold). We believe given the current showing activity, we will see a few more luxury sales before the end of the year.

We have seen an increase interest in our luxury waterfront from our neighbors from the Pacific Rim: China, Japan and Korea.  These buyers generally have business or family connections with the Seattle area.  They seem to be especially interested in our luxury waterfront properties and the lakeside lifestyle.

The Pacific Northwest has been blessed with an abundance of waterfront:  lakes, Puget Sound and island properties.  The area is cherished by boaters – we have the highest boat ownership per capita and luxury yachters from all over the world because of the protected waters of the Puget Sound.

Professor Shiller of the Case-Shiller index speaks about the latest housing market trends…http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/26032086/shiller-housing-did-an-impressive-upturn.htm

Everyone keeps asking when the market will bottom out. Signs are pointing that it is now here. Here is the video clip from The Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/video/us-housing-market-recovery/9D16B490-1D91-4876-B9D6-10D05AC6F2F8.html

The Monticeto at Meydenbauer Bay offers the best of lakefront living in the Northwest

http://themontecito-meydenbauer.com/

As reported in the Wall Street Journal on July 29 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124878477560186517.html) home prices rose for the first time in three years. Housing starts are up 3.6% from May, existing home sales are up 3.6% from May and new home sales are up 11% since May. The article cites the S&P’s Case-Shiller index showing the first increase after 34 straight months of decline. The Case-Shiller index tracks 20 metropolitan areas including Seattle.