April 2024 Seattle Housing Market Update

Here are the bullet points from the newest press release from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (data is from the full month of March):

Interest rates have decreased by 0.15% over the past month to 6.79%, and while the rate decrease is encouraging, it has yet to have a significant impact on prospective buyers’ purchasing power or prospective sellers’ willingness to give up low interest rate mortgages.
March 2024 saw an 11.2% decrease in the number of closed sales year-over-year, although median sales prices have continued to steadily rise with a year-over-year increase of 7.5%.
“With new listings picking up the pace from 2023 lows, potential home buyers have more options to choose from.”
“Still, there seems to be more buyers in the market than the available inventory. As a result, home prices continue to rise despite elevated mortgage rates and constrained affordability.”
There were 2,954 new listings in King County in March, almost exactly the same as March of 2023.
The number of pending sales in King County was up about 8% compared to last year.
The median price for residential homes and condominiums in King County was up almost 12% year-over-year to $850,000.
Of all the residential homes and condos that closed in King County in March, 41% sold above the list price, indicating multiple offers. About 20% sold at list price, 17% sold below list price, and 22% had to drop the price before getting an offer.

To read the full press release, click here.