New Listings

Listing inventory is up 30% compared to Q1 of 2024 (721 vs 553 new listings). Within this past quarter, March showed an intense surge of new homes on the market, with 321 home listings versus February's 196. This was the strongest March for new listings in the last few years, and hopefully indicates a strong spring-summer listing season.

Seasonal context

Monthly new listings in Whatcom County range heavily due to seasonality; with December's 85 new listings as our lowest individual month in NWMLS history. By contrast, summer months in the last two summer seasons have peaked at 403 (May 2024).

Closed Sales

Whatcom County had 411 closed single family home sales this quarter; only a handful of homes away from both Q1 2024 (415 closed) and 2023 (416 closed), but much lower than 2022's closings (558). This also means that for every home sold, 1.75 new listings came on the market.

Expired/Cancelled Listings

On the flip side, 133 home listings expired or cancelled this quarter; this means that for every 3 homes that closed, 1 was pulled from the market, unsold.

With that being said...

Annualized sales activity in Whatcom County is higher than it was a couple years ago, but we're still in the lowest period for sales activity since the Great Recession recovery period, more than a decade past.

With 1.75 new listings coming on for each home sold in Q1, there is competition for buyers' attention. Sellers are competing first with one another, to have the best-priced, best-maintained, best value in their specific market niche.

However, buyers don't have it easy either. What we do know is that today's economic uncertainty, the increase in the cost of basic goods and services, and interest rates staying stubbornly over 6% for 2.5 years, have all led to an environment where many buyers have been entirely edged out of the market, and where many mortgage payments are double what they would have been just three years ago.

In Summary

Hire a professional agent who will provide detailed analysis and be able to explain it to you.

Sellers: know your competition and prepare your home to be the best it can be on the market.

Buyers: work to improve your buyer profile and be realistic about what's possible.

Questions? Reach out to comms@bhamre.co.

Data and information derived from the Northwest MLS.

By Tiffany Holden-Ng, a licensed Managing Broker at Bellingham Real Estate Co. AI is never used in the research or generation of Tiffany's analyses.