For several years I sold new homes in the Kent area of South King County. I so love new construction! I enjoy explaining the new construction process to new home buyers who have decided they must have a new home. The excitement of buyers when they move into a brand new home is so much fun to watch!

Buying a home in so exciting in itself but buying a brand spanking new home is out of this world! Watching the process from the foundation forms being laid to the roofing material being delivered can be very exciting. Sure, you have to wait a few months before you can move in, but that wait is full of choosing colors and carpets and planning how to decorate that special loft area over looking the staircase. There is nothing else like it in the real estate world.

I haven’t specialized in new construction over the last couple of years, but have decided to get back to it. Since I sold hundreds of homes in the Kent area during the years of 1996 through 2001 I decided to specialize in Kent once again. I enjoy the Kent area, raised a family there, became involved with the Kent School District and enjoyed all that the area has to offer.

I thought I would see what has been happening in the area over the last several years. I left the area in 2003 so I thought that would be a good year to start. I have included a chart with the number of homes sold during the last 8 years. New construction was hit hard in the area. Some builders lost their projects to the banks and some builders stopped building entirely. Prices for new homes have come down and some new construction sites are hopping. Contact me and we can get you all the information you need.

Kent New Homes Sold 2003 to 2010

Looks like today Kent, Washington is still in a buyer’s market.  What I have done is calculated all of the homes listed for sale in the categories of active, pending inspection, pending feasibility, pending bu requested, pending short sale and even pending to arrive at the number of homes available on the market.  Even though the pending homes really are not available for new contracts they have not sold and closed yet. These home still have a probability to come back on the market. 

The definition of an absorption rate is the mathematical relationship of supply and demand. The absorption rate is the number of months it would take to sell the entire inventory of homes in the Kent, Washington  area of King County if the pace were to stay constant.

The Absorption rate in the Kent area is approximately 8.162 months of inventory if the current conditions remain unchanged.  Now if we didn’t include the homes that are listed as pending the Kent area would have approximately 2.42.  months of inventory and be a seller’s market.  Remember absorption rates track trends.

Using absorption rates can help you define markets. My definition breaks down like this…

Normal Market – Between 5 and 6 months of inventory.

Seller’s Market - Between 1 and 4 months of inventory.

Buyer’s Market – 7 months and higher.

Now remember that absorption rates just track trends and isn’t an exact science!