Seattle Real Estate Market Steadies; Tacoma Market is Hot
The latest numbers from the Northwest MLS were recently released, showing the number of homes for sale, pending, and sold for the month of May. Home prices in King county have gone down, marking the third month in a row to do so. The median price for a single-family home is $700,000, down from last year of $726,275. May showed more homes for sale than April, which is typical for this time of year. However, this year’s jump was quite significant. May had 26% more listings than April, where we typically see a steadier increase. A greater supply is great news for homebuyers, who are also taking advantage of lower mortgage rates. Rates have been going down over the last several weeks, dipping below 4%. Last week found rates at 3.82%.
Average sales price for a home in Seattle has also been declining for the last three months. The average sales price in Seattle for the month of May was $860,562 for a single-family home. Median days on market is 11 days, only slight increase from April at 10. A relief many homebuyers may see, is that homes are, on average, selling at list price. Gone are the days multiple offers and extraneous escalation amounts. Many Seattle homebuyers are finding this steadying market a welcome from the previous years.
Chart shows median home prices in King County.
Courtesy of Trendgraphix.
While Seattle and King County is seeing a quieter market, Tacoma and Pierce County is feeling the heat. Recently dubbed as “the hottest housing market in the nation”, Tacoma is seeing a boom in home sales similar to that of Seattle. The median days on market for Tacoma has been holding steady at 9 days since March of 2018 and have been selling at or above list price since July 2016. Analysts believe homebuyers who have been “priced out” of Seattle have been buying in Tacoma. Homes are much more affordable and get you get “more bang for your buck.” The median sales price for a home in Tacoma is $339,555. According to Redfin, homes are seeing multiple offers. “Hot Homes” as coined by Redfin, typically sell about 4% above the list price and are pending within 4 days.
Pierce county has seen their average single-family home price increase year over year. Pierce county’s average sales price was $388,058, up from $356,599 from May 2018. The median days on market have been holding steady at 12 days or below since December 2017. Pierce county is not the only area where the market has picked up. Even as Seattle home prices have dipped in the last few months, it is still out of reach for some homebuyers. Kitsap county saw their median home price increase from $370,000 in May 2018 to $385,000 last month.
Graph shows months of inventory in Pierce county.
Courtesy of Trendgraphix
Overall, we are still seeing a hot market overall. A balanced market is a 6-month inventory of homes. We are not seeing these numbers in any of the state, nor in the nation. We are seeing two months’ supply of inventory in Seattle and King county. The nation’s hottest market has only 1.3 months of inventory and even Thurston county is showing 2.2 months of supply. As we hit June and gearing for the summer market, I anticipate more activity as more homebuyers start looking for homes after the kids are out of school.