After a year-over-year retracement of the median sales price of single-family homes in the first quarter of 2019, home values saw double-digit growth in the second quarter of the year, increasing from $865,000 in Q2-2018 to $979,000 in Q2-2019, a 13.2% gain. It is thus no surprise that the neutral market we reported in the first quarter has now shifted back into a seller’s market, with 2 months of inventory. Though the average cumulative days on market was up slightly from this time last year—at 33 days—it was markedly lower than Q1-2019, when homes sold in an average of 67 days.

The market slowdown that began in the fourth quarter of 2018 continued into the first quarter of 2019, with the median sales price of single-family homes on Bainbridge Island settling at $843,000, a 6.33% retracement from the first quarter of 2018 (when homes sold for $900,000). In the first quarter of 2018, we reported a sharp decline in inventory, however as was the case in many markets, inventory rose on Bainbridge Island in Q1-2019, pushing into a neutral market, with 3.2 months of inventory.

As we closed 2018, the real estate market on Bainbridge Island underwent its typical seasonal slowdown. Many buyers elected to take a break from their home searches and some sellers also paused, as inventory fell to a low of 1.6 months. Though there were fewer sales, home values did not depreciate, as the median sales price reached $1,035,000, the highest figure reported on a quarterly basis in all of 2018.

Though Seattle and the Eastside both reported slight decreases in the average median sales price from the second to third quarter of 2018, home prices on Bainbridge Island increased on a quarterly basis, from $865,000 in the second quarter of 2018 to $912,000 in the third quarter. This 5.4% quarter-by-quarter increase is larger than the 2.3% year-over-year gain, and may be attributed to a shortage of supply.