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February 2024 Seattle Housing Market Update
Prices and number of sales increased despite reduced inventory
Here are my bullet points from the newest press release from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (data is from the full month of January):
- Interest rates held steady through the month of January to end at 6.69%.
- The number of closed sales transactions was up 3% year-over-year.
- The median price of single-family homes and condos combined was up 6.5% compared to January 2023.
- The volume of homes on the market for sale has continued to decline throughout Washington. There was a decrease of about 14% compared to January of last year.
- Despite the decrease in available inventory, many areas have seen an increase in the number of homes sold.
- Overall, seller reluctance has led to low inventory levels and, coupled with buyer demand, competition and bidding wars has led to higher prices.
To read the full press release, click here.
June 2023 Seattle Housing Market Update
Brokers report improving inventory and year-to-date gains in sales, prices
*NOTE* – the data we are looking at is from the full month of May. The NWMLS comprises 26 of Washington’s 39 counties, mostly in the western part of the state.
Here are my bullet points from the newest press release from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service:
- Home buyers around Washington state found the largest selection of listings last month since December.
- Both pending sales and closed sales reached their highest volume in months.
- High mortgage interest rates (about 7%) are crimping activity.
- The median price across the entire MLS (26 of the counties in WA) is down 6.8% compared to last year, but up 10.4% since January. In King County, the residential median home price increased 16.5% since January.
- “In May, there were both fewer resale listings and a lower number of homes going under contract compared to the same month a year ago.”
- Inventory is at the highest level since December, but is still low. More than one-third of properties are sold above their list price due to limited inventory.
To read the full press release, click here.
January 2022 Housing Market Update (NWMLS Press Release)
Northwest MLS brokers end 2021 with depleted inventory, rising prices, weather disruptions
*NOTE* – the data we are looking at is from the full month of December. The NWMLS comprises 26 of Washington’s 39 counties, mostly in the western part of the state.
Here are the bullet points from the newest press release from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which provides housing market data for most of Western Washington:
- Severe shortages of inventory, record-low temperatures and snow restrained December housing activity around Washington state beyond expected seasonal slowdowns.
- New listings were down 12.3% compared to last December.
- Prices were up 17.4% overall for homes and condos across the NWMLS.
- King County was one of only three counties where the single family price change was under 10%; prices there rose from $740,000 to $810,000. A dozen counties had price jumps of 20% or more.
- Despite low inventory and pandemic-related hurdles, the number of closed sales was up 12.1% compared to 2020.
- Inventory across the NWMLS is at decade-lows with less than two weeks of supply.
- Expect the pace of price growth to slow significantly in the coming year due to rising mortgage rates and affordability constraints.
- “The Puget Sound region is in dire need of more housing units which would function to slow price growth of the area’s existing housing. However, costs continue to limit building activity, and that is unlikely to change significantly this year.”
- 2022 will be similar to last year, with low inventory and lots of buyer demand. Prices are expected to keep rising, though not as drastically.
- Interest rates are predicted to rise slowly and stay below 4%.
To read the full press release, click here.
August 2021 Housing Market Update (NWMLS Press Release)
Home buyers are finding some relief, but Northwest MLS brokers say it is temporary
*NOTE* – the data we are looking at is from the full month of July. The NWMLS comprises 26 of Washington’s 39 counties, mostly in the western part of the state.
Here are the bullet points from the newest press release from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which provides housing market data for most of Western Washington:
- New listings passed pending sales by a small margin.
- “August historically is the last month of the year with elevated levels of new listings before they slowly taper down in the fall and decline more substantially over the winter.”
- “There seems to be a bit of a leveling off from the market frenzy.”
- Prices continue to climb by double digits in all but a few counties.
- Advice to buyers: “Take advantage of this time before Labor Day and the fall market.”
- Advice to sellers: “Overpricing a listing in this market is still a big mistake.”
- Prices in suburban counties and along much of the I-5 corridor have increased sharply in the last two years.
- “With interest rates staying at historically low levels and less than a one-month supply throughout the region, the perfect storm for rising house prices will continue, but perhaps not as ferociously as before.”
- Building supply chain slowdowns and a scarcity of skilled workers has contributed to the lack of affordability.
- The pattern continues: low inventory and high demand from low interest rates.
To read the full press release, click here.
February 2021 Housing Market Update (NWMLS Press Release)
Pandemic presents new option for home buyers as market “kept foot firmly on the accelerator”
*COVID UPDATE: open houses are allowed with up to 10 visitors practicing social distancing and wearing masks.
Here are the bullet points from the newest press release from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which provides housing market data for most of Western Washington:
- the market “ignored the traditional winter slowdown and kept its foot firmly on the accelerator in January”
- homebuyers may want to consider condos as an option
- condos in King County have about 2.4 times the inventory of single family homes, which means the condo market is less competitive
- condo prices in King County were actually down about half a percentage point compared to the same time last year
- COVID-19 has likely been the cause of the rise of condo inventory, especially downtown and in business districts, as people choose to move farther away from urban areas in favor of more space
- there was a slight uptick in new listings in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties last month
- demand is still very strong as evidenced by year-over-year price growth being well above long-term averages
- “The economics of scarcity are driving price sup at an unsustainable pace”
- “If interest rates weren’t historically low, buyers would be unable to afford the escalating cost of housing”
- low inventory (down 43% compared to last year) suggests continued price growth into the spring
To read the full press release, click here.
February 2019 Seattle Market Report
Heating Up!
Stats for the Seattle real estate market for February 2019 are out, so here’s the market update condensed into some highlights.
- Pending sales are down about 14 percent compared to February 2018.
- Inventory in Seattle rose from January to 1.8 months (0-3 months of inventory is considered a seller’s market).
- Median prices increased compared to January but were still down compared to February 2018.
- Median sale prices in Seattle:
- residential – $730,000 (down 6% compared to Feb 2018)
- condo – $444,000 (down 14% compared to Feb 2018)
- combined – $690,000 (down 3% compared to Feb 2018)
- 47% of homes took a price cut before selling, with 20% selling above list price. Compare that to February 2018 when only 14% took price cuts before selling and 64% sold over the asking price!
- We are seeing more homes go under contract than new homes coming on the market.
- We are seeing more offer review dates.
- Homes that are priced well are getting multiple offers.
As we continue towards the spring market (the busiest time of year for buyers and sellers), I think we’ll see a lot of buyers taking advantage of low interest rates but they may be competing for homes due to the limited choices.
If you’d like to see market update graphs that are updated each month, check out the market update section of my website.
