Between retirement homes, getaway homes, air base housing and working family homes, Whidbey Island, Washington offers diversity along with its beautiful scenery.

"Whidbey Island is continental America's largest island," explains Realtor Regnar Kearton. "Oak Harbor has a strong internal economy supported by the large U.S. naval air station - NAS Whidbey Island. It's $300 million annual budget and 11, 000 military and other employees create fairly wealthy communities. South Whidbey, lacking an internal economy, is characterized by large numbers of second homes, weekend 'getaways,' and retirement housing is on the increase. Most of those who work commute off island daily to the job markets of greater Puget Sound.

"Demographically," he says, "this population is well-educated, well-traveled and wealthy. Coupeville as the County seat is home to many county workers, though it otherwise resembles the rest of South Whidbey. Dream of a mild Pacific Northwest with warm winters and cool summers, modest rainfall, spectacular scenery, eagles and whales? Add pristine air quality, unpolluted water, very low crime, great health care delivery and no state income tax, and you could be talking about Whidbey Island."

About the market, Kearton says, "Real estate sales on Whidbey Island show continued strength as we enter the new year. The first two-and-a-half months, indicate home sales at number similar to last year; though prices continue to rise. As a whole sales remain above last year's (2003). Primary activity remains Single-Family Detached (SFD) home sales. For the entire island, there were 157 such sales through March 15th. Of these, 89 sold in the ranges between $125,000 and $250,000. For the whole market area sales averaged $222,000 and were 'on market' 113 days.

"Increasingly, we have homes sales on the island above $300,000, more and more in the $400,000 to $600,000 range, quite a few above $600,000 and an occasional sale over $1 million," he adds. "Many of these are saltwater waterfront, large acreage or 'estate' properties. Such homes tend to be on the market about twice as long as average sales - six to eight months. These upper-tier sales are becoming more frequent. During January and February eighteen homes sold over $300,000; three over $450,000.

"There are now over 450 homes for sale on the island," advises Kearton. "Of these there are 20 available for less than an average of $95,000. There are 100 under $300,000. At the other extreme, there are more than 200 with asking prices above $300,000 - some very much luxury housing. There are 50 new 'spec' homes (a 'handful' on South Whidbey and the rest in or around Oak Harbor), 150 acreage homes and 100 waterfront homes - altogether a very decent inventory. Land sales have improved significantly over the past two years and land inventories are rising.

"At the request of a growing number of buyer clients, we have been asked to evaluate the relationship of original 'asking prices' to actual final sales price," he says. "With more than 1,000 sales last year (2003), we created a sampling program and followed the price changes of average listings. Because of long sales periods for much of our property, many listings expire (in some cases three or four times before the actual sale). Our statistical analysis indicates that 'original' prices were 16.4 percent higher than final sales price. This phenomenon suggests overly optimistic, unsupported pricing by many sellers."

Says Realtor Pamela Z. Hill, "This fifty-mile long island features a mix of small towns, wooded, beach, and prairie, with a city of 20,000 population providing commercial services and big box shopping."

Hill exclaims, "Wow! What a year for Whidbey Island real estate! There were 92 new active listings that came on the market in February. The low list price was $97,000 and high list price was $1.395,000. What a spread! There is definitely a home for everyone on Whidbey Island. The average list price was $310,002 and median list was $217,000 (approximately the same as January)."

She advises, "There is definitely a lack of waterfront inventory so I feel the trend in 2004 will be for waterfront homes to continue to significantly increase in value."

Published: March 24, 2004

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