SEQUIM — In discussions about Sequim real estate, the phrase constantly bandied about is that there are 1,000 units of housing somewhere in the planning process — either proposed, approved or under construction.
It turns out that number is low.
A review of just major subdivision activity — that is, proposals with 10 or more lots — since 2004 shows that 605 housing units have gained at least preliminary approval.
At least an additional 485 are waiting in the wings for their first review by the Sequim Planning Commission.
That doesn’t include minor subdivisions of nine lots or less. Nor does it include developments like the 118-unit senior apartment complex being built on Washington Street, or other senior housing planned for the west side of Wal-Mart.
You’d have to be sleeping under a rock to miss the fact that Sequim is booming.
Chain stores and restaurants have moved in, new houses are being built and real estate prices are headed for the stratosphere — a trend that’s really gathered steam in the last year to 18 months.
That’s likely to continue, since the area is attractive to baby boomer retirees, and prices in Sequim are still relatively affordable compared with those in the large metro areas.
What’s not clear is what will happen to people in the low- and mid-wage category who are being priced out of the Sequim market even as the city adds jobs for those workers.
Shooting up
Data from the Multiple Listings Service, a database used by Realtors, illustrate what’s happened across the North Olympic Peninsula over the last five years.
From 2000 to 2003, prices crept upward by almost 22 percent, from a median home price of $139,000 in 2000 to $169,000 three years later. The number of homes changing hands went up too, from about 1,400 sales a year in 2000 and 2001 to a high of about 1,800 in 2003.
That pattern changed in 2004, according to MLS figures. Median home prices went up another 9.5 percent, but the number of sales dropped below 1,400 because the supply was tightening, said Tom Cantwell, managing broker at Windermere Real Estate in SunLand.
So far this year, the median home price has gone up an additional 11 percent to $205,000 — a 47 percent increase since 2000 — and the number of transactions is on track to be still lower than last year.
Those numbers go up even more sharply when looking just in the Sequim area, Cantwell said.
“The markets where all the homes are is basically in the [$300,000] range,” he said.
“Prices are higher. The supply is low. A lot of people are waiting for new homes to come in. There’s not going to be many of the new homes, that I know of, less than $250,000.”
Home permits
City of Sequim records show that 2004 also was the “opening bell” in a rush of single-family home construction permits issued, said Planning Director Dennis Lefevre.
There were 112 permits approved, a 39 percent increase over the previous year — and 239 percent more than in 2000.