SEATTLE HOUSING MARKET REPORT
Market Insights, Statistics, Graphs, And Infographs
INTENSITY REMAINS STRONG FOR NEW LISTINGS DESPITE THE COVID-19 CRISIS
The Seattle Real Estate Market Analysis For May 2020
COVID-19 has affected the market the last 2 months but not as much as we may have expected.
What we did see is 40% fewer listings go on the market this April compared to last April. However, the listings that did go on the market sold quickly.
Our commitment to our clients is that we will take every precaution to ensure your safety. We can all agree that buying and selling a house is a major decision in our lives, however it pales in comparison to our health and our families health.
We ask that you bare with us as we try to figure this out. Things are changing everyday and we are doing everything in our power to stay current and compliant.
We have had to modify the way we operate our services, meetings, and the way we interact with our clients and each other as real estate professionals.
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Along with taking extra precautions we are focusing on delivering Virtual Real Estate Services.
A few things that really stuck out to me as I was compiling the Seattle Housing Market stats.
Despite the Shelter-in-place order we remained in a SURGING status with 56% of listings going pending in the 1st 30 days Click To Tweet- The Average Sales Price remained at a high point of $830,264
- 628 Fewer New Listings this April, 970, than last April, 1,598.
- 2% Higher percentage of homes pending than in April 2019
- 9 Fewer days on market than last month.
- We remain in a housing shortage.
What that story tells me is
Despite the COVID-19 Crisis buyers are still hungry for new listings.
With still amazingly low interest rates, and a low level inventory the last couple of years the Seattle real estate market should remain in the surge to frenzy status for the foreseeable future.
While the safety of putting a home on the market reduced the number of new listings to sell considerably. Despite the high unemployment rate we sold those listings at a surging pace.
If you are selling the average sales price is at all time highs, and 65% of homes are selling in the first 30 days.
If you are buying the interest rates have never been lower and this is typically the time of year when more listings start coming on the market.
There are 3 important steps you should take to get ready to buy.
Position yourself to create a buyer advantage when competing with other buyers and walk in confidence when making an offer.
The Madrona Group can consult with you to be:
- Up-to-date with current market intensity and pricing
- Get pre-approved or fully underwritten through a lender,
- Receive email/text notification of newly listed properties
In today’s instant-response market, it’s key to ensure you’re ready to act when the timing is right.
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CONTACT JOE & JASONINTENSITY REMAINS STRONG FOR NEW LISTINGSIn Seattle, we are seeing buyer demand coming forward. Yet given the historically low interest rates, the local market needs additional listings to meet pent-up demand from the back-log of buyers. Due to the COVID-19 situation, there were fewer new listings in April vs April 2019, which leads to fewer homes going under contract as well. However, the sales activity intensity of homes selling within the first 30 days is aligned with last year’s high level for homes priced up to $1.5 million. You still need to be Buyer Ready to get a home in today’s market!
In Seattle’s luxury market, sales activity intensity is strong from $1 million to $1.5 million, healthy from $1.5 million to $3 million and selective above.J Lennox Scott
Seattle Real Estate Data
SALES ACTIVITY AND INVENTORY
With only 1.5 months of supply if no other homes were listed in the next 45 days we would run out of houses to buy.
New listings decreased sharply in April.
If you are looking for homes above $1million you are seeing a little more inventory with 2 months of inventory.
As you can see from the table above anything below 5 months is considered low. Low inventory means higher demand. Higher demand drives the price up.
675 homes were sold in Seattle last month. That is down 226 from the previous month, down 340 from last year, and down 419 from 5 years ago.
As you can see in Seattle homes in the 350-1 million price range are the most commonly listed and sold. However, homes in the 500k-1m price range sold the fastest.
DAYS ON MARKET
56% of homes are selling in less than 30 days in Seattle. That number is usually closer to 30%.
Houses in the 750k-1m price range are selling 65.4% of the time in the first 30 days.
Because there are less homes for sale and there are still many buyers trying to buy… the homes that do list are usually selling very fast.
PRICE
We have already seen where a low inventory should drive up prices. The average sale price for Seattle homes is $830,264. In comparison 5 years ago the average sales price was $565,534 5 years ago.
In addition the average home is selling for 1.6% higher than it is listed as.
INTEREST RATES
In order for it to be a sellers market there must be buyers. With the interest rates at the Unbelievable rate of 3.19% a decrease from last month (source: Mortgage News Daily)
There are plenty of buyers that are in the market.
TIMING
JOB AND POPULATION GROWTH
According to both Zillow and John L Scott’s massive data set we are in the busy season.
The buyers are there and we are not getting the listings.
If you’re a buyer you will want to position yourself to create a buyer advantage when competing with other buyers and walk in confidence when making an offer. We can consult with you to be up-to-date with current market intensity and pricing, get pre-approved or fully underwritten through a lender, and receive email/text notification of newly listed properties.
In today’s instant-response market, it’s key to ensure you’re ready to act when the timing is right and make sure you are Buyer Ready Day One.
Sellers should be Market Ready Day One.
WHILE WE ARE NOT SURE HOW THE EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS WILL END UP HERE IS THE CURRENT UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION
1 million claims are expected to be filed this week (employment security deparment)
EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS PRIOR TO THE COVID-19 CRISES
“After another year of employment stability, Washington economists predict more of the same in 2020.”
“Over the past year, Washington’s ranking in economic growth and competitiveness rose from fifth highest to fourth highest in the nation, according to a September study prepared by the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. Separate ESD data reported that Washington added 52,500 jobs between October 2018 and October 2019, with 41,600 of those jobs in the Seattle metro area.”(Seattle Times)
(Courtesy ofSeattle Times)
According to the US Census Bureau Seattle the fastest growing city of the decade in the country.
The Seattle Housing Market Analysis INFOGRAPHIC
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PAST MONTHS REPORTS
We put this list together every month. If you are interested in seeing past months you can access the archive below:
Seattle Market Stats
STATS PROVIDED BY: INFOSPARK
- $830,264 was the average sold price for listings in Seattle.
- 980 new listings went on the market this month.
- 1,432 homes were for sale during the month.
- 701 homes went pending in Seattle.
- 675 homes sold this month
- 1.5 months of inventory available in Seattle
- 16 was the average days on market for a home to sell in Seattle
- 101.6% was the average listing price vs. sales price percentage
- $495 was the average price per square foot in Seattle
- $560,428,043 was the total closed sales volume for Seattle
- 3.19% was the interest rate
- 65% of homes sold in the first 30 days in Seattle
Summary
The Seattle Housing Market saw 970 new listings, 1,4,32 homes were for sale, while 675 homes sold in May in Seattle.
The average days on market decreased sharply to 16 days, the percentage of sale price to listing price decreased slightly to 101.6%, and the average sales price stayed level. The percentage of homes that sold in the first 30 days is 56%. Showing that despite the crisis, with interest rates low, buyers are out there. We have seen the market go to a Surge status over the last month and the inventory to a shortage.
We should continue to see a surging to frenzy market for the foreseeable future.
Now seems to be an amazing time to sell your home as we are still seeing historically low inventory and high prices.
If you are considering a move up, a move down, or just want to sell your home… Months of inventory is still at well below average. Homes are selling at a rapid pace, the Interest Rates are still at below average lows.
The jury is still out on the job market and population growth.
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