Q2 Housing Market Review

Tiffany Holden-Ng | Bellingham Real Estate Co.

New listings

Our Q1 market review reported the strongest March in terms of new listings for the last few years, and mentioned this as a possible indicator for a strong spring listing season.

And yes, that happened.

Q2 brought with it a surge of new listings to Whatcom County's inventory; 26% higher than last year's turnout. 1,337 single family homes (not including condos and manufactured homes) came on the market, the highest number of new listings in the second quarter since June 2017.

Approximately a third of these new listings (437) were in Bellingham, and just like the county as a whole, this was the highest number of new residential listings in Q2 since 2017.

As of this report, there are 816 single family residential homes available for sale on the Northwest MLS in Whatcom County. 206 single family residential homes are available for sale in Bellingham, with a median list price of $907,500.

To sum up: a whole lot of houses came on the market; the highest Q2 we've had in 8 years.

Closed sales

641 single family homes closed in Q2 in Whatcom County, which ties with Q2 of 2024 as the lowest number of Q2 closings in a decade. Our historical Q2 sales peak was 2017, and sales this year are down 26% compared with that year.

Bellingham followed suit, with just 285 homes closed this quarter. The last time we saw such a low closing number in the second quarter was way back in June 2012.

To sum up: this year had the lowest number of Q2 closings for the last decade or more.

Expired & cancelled listings

In Whatcom County, 239 homes fell off the market, unsold, in Q2. The median asking price of canceled/expired listings was $869,000, more than $200,000 higher than the median closed price.

This means that for every 5.6 homes that came on the market, 1 fell off, unsold. And 1 home fell off the market for every 2.7 that closed.

In Bellingham, 110 listings were cancelled or expired. This is almost an exact 1:4 ratio between failed listings and new listings coming on the market.

What this means for consumers

With 2 houses coming on the market for every home sold, buyers overall have more options. Sellers are competing first with one another, to have the best-priced, best-maintained, best value in their specific market niche.

However, buyers are fighting to get into the active market, and we've seen cases of multiple-offer situations on some of the well-priced, most attractive homes. 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.

In Summary

Even as data shifts and markets morph over the years, our recommendations often echo the same themes:

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.

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

Data and information derived from the Northwest MLS.