Kitsap County Weekly Market Statistics for January 5, 2009

This is the first report for 2009 and let's all hope the information I present throughout the year becomes more positive by year's end.

That being said, the absorption rate for Silverdale declined to 78 weeks of active inventory for sale. This rate has been decreasing since the beginning of December 2008 but not because the market has improved...unfortunately because there are fewer active listings for sale.

The absorption rate for Kitsap County also decreased, from 200.4 weeks of active inventory the previous report to 134.5 weeks this past week. This number has remained relatively stable for the past five months.

There were 26 new purchase contracts written the past week which is five more than the average for the month of December 2008 but one-half the number prior to the stock market's major decline this past October.

There were 1,738 active listings for sale county-wide this past week.

I expect the number of active listings to gradually increase over the next several months, possibly to 2,400 or more. For sellers...more competition. For buyers...more choices. If I'm correct, the absorption rates will also increase unless the number of contracts written also increases. More to come!