Data Transparency

Today is Wednesday and that means it’s time for this week’s market update. Last week in Whatcom County, we saw 56 new homes come up for sale, and 69 homes went under contract.

If you follow multiple real estate agents on social media, you’ll see our market data points vary slightly (and sometimes significantly). As I write this (at 12:43PM Tuesday the 9th), there are possibly 50 homes for sale in Bellingham right now.

Or 68.

Or some other similar-but-not-the-same number.

The 68-unit stat includes manufactured homes and condominiums; 50 removes these and leaves only single family homes (which ironically can still include manufactured homes - just those on fee simple land versus a rented space). 

And even the number 50 might be too high for an accurate picture of the housing market. What about not-quite-liveable fixer homes? Or the home in an undisclosed location on the market for over $13 million. It’s still a home, and it’s still for sale - but it’s hardly relevant to most of the buyer market. 

At the end of the day, the transparency of the data is important, and that’s why in our market update videos, we make an effort to use clarifying terms like “residential and condominiums” or “single family homes” or show graphics that have some of those data parameters listed. It’s all about transparency and communicating the real story behind the data. 

Reach out to our team with any of your housing market questions!