The Spokane market continues a sales pace similar to last year and to have more demand than supply, however inventory is beginning to see modest growth.

Source: SAR MLS 12/21

Northwest MLS brokers not seeing much seasonal slowdown, say buyers still need to be bold

Historically soggy weather and the onset of holidays did not deter thousands of buyers and sellers during November, based on the latest report from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Numbers for new listings, pending sales, and closed sales were comparable to year-ago totals, while prices rose a little more than 15%.

Northwest MLS figures show 8,571 pending sales across 26 counties last month, nearly matching the year-ago total of 8,584 mutually accepted offers. The 8,976 closed sales marked a slight improvement on twelve months ago when MLS members tallied 8,875 completed transactions (up 1.14%).

Twenty of the 26 counties in the NWMLS report added more new listings during November than a year ago, but with demand outstripping supply, inventory was meager in many areas.

Area-wide, there were 4,621 active listings of single-family homes and condominiums at month end, down nearly 29% from a year ago when there were 6,505 listings. The selection at month end amounted to about two weeks of supply (0.51 months). Five counties had even less supply: Snohomish (0.24 months), Thurston (0.35) King (0.38 months), Clark (0.39) and Pierce (0.44 months).

The Northwest MLS report shows prices within Seattle are essentially the same as a year ago: $765,000 for November’s closed sales, compared to the year ago figure of $760,000. Elsewhere, for example, for the Eastside and Southeast King County map areas, prices jumped more than 26% from a year ago.

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Source: NWMLS 12/6/21

The Spokane market continues a sales pace similar to last year and to have more demand than supply, however inventory is beginning to see modest growth.

Source: SAR MLS 11/21

Buyer hesitancy sidelines some, while
others compete for scarce housing inventory

Northwest Multiple Listing Service brokers are detecting indecisiveness by some buyers who are getting mixed “work from home” messages from their employers. The hesitancy, coupled with cooler, wetter weather and increases in mortgage rates were likely factors in slower listing and sales activity during October.

Northwest MLS brokers reported 10,620 pending sales last month, a drop of 3.8% from a year ago and a decline of 6.2% from September. Pending sales volume fell in 13 of the 26 counties in the MLS report, but tight inventory could be hampering the ability of buyers to find their dream home.

The latest report shows there were 9,983 closed sales during October. That was 823 fewer completed transactions than a year ago (down 7.6%) and 306 fewer than September (down about 3%).

House hunters were able to select from 9,219 new listings MLS added to inventory last month. That was 1,209 fewer than the same month a year ago for a drop of 11.6%. Compared to September, new listing activity shrunk nearly 19%.

At month end, there were 6,588 active listings in inventory, down 23.6% compared to a year ago, and the smallest selection since June, but the selection improved by double digits in eleven counties.

Measured by months of supply, there was less than three weeks of supply area-wide (0.66). Eleven counties, including eight in the Puget Sound region, had less than one a month of supply.

Would-be buyers will find prices for single family homes and condos are 15% higher than a year ago, with most counties reporting double-digit gains. Area-wide, the price for last month’s closed sales was $575,000, which was $75,000 higher than twelve months ago. For single family homes (excluding condos), prices rose 16.3% YOY, rising from $515,000 to $599,000. Condo prices were up about 11.3%, increasing from $395,000 to $439,475.

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Source: NWMLS 11/4/21

The Spokane market continues a sales pace similar to last year and to have more demand than supply, however inventory is beginning to see modest growth.

Source: SAR MLS 10/21

 Northwest MLS brokers report gains in
new listings, closed sales, prices versus year ago

The report from Northwest MLS shows brokers added slightly more new listings last month (11,373) than a year ago (11,210). That volume, which includes single-family homes and condominiums, nearly matched the total for August (11,437), and barely outgained the number of pending sales (11,318) for the 26 counties in the report.

Compared to the same month a year ago, pending sales slipped about 6% (11,318 versus 12,053).

Low inventory continues to pose challenges for buyers. At month end, Northwest MLS members reported 7,757 total active listings system-wide. That marked a slight improvement from August when there were 7,425 active listings, but it was a drop of nearly 14.8% from twelve months ago.

As of the end of September, there was about three weeks of supply (0.75 months), slightly better than August (0.70 months), but less than the same month a year ago (0.89 months). There has not been more than one month of supply since July 2020 when it reached 1.04 months.

Figures for single-family homes only (excluding condominiums) were more encouraging. Inventory declined only about 4% from a year ago. Seventeen counties reported YOY gains, with two others unchanged from year-ago levels.

King County, one of the exceptions, had the sharpest decline in inventory for single-family homes. The selection of single-family homes plummeted from the year-ago volume of 2,420 to 1,634 (down 32.5%).

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Source: NWMLS 10/6/21

 August housing activity follows patterns of seasonal slowing

August typically brings a dip in housing activity and this year was no different, according to representatives from Northwest Multiple Listing Service when commenting on newly-released statistics. Figures comparing July to August show month-to-month drops in new listings, total inventory, pending sales, close sales, and median prices.

NWMLS statistics show the volume of new listings added during August, including single family homes and condominiums, declined from both July (down 11.5%) and twelve months ago (down 4.2%). Total inventory for the 26 counties in the report also fell, shrinking about 6.6% from July and nearly 22.6% from a year ago. At month end, there were 7,425 active listings, down from the year-ago total of 9,591.

Prices showed signs of moderating during August. The median price on the 10,571 sales that closed last month was $579,000, a drop of $10,000 from July. Prices did rise compared to 12 months ago, climbing from $490,000 for an increase of about 18.2%. That year-over-year (YOY) percentage change was the smallest since February when there was a bump-up of about 15%.

Northwest MLS figures show the median list price system-wide for single family homes and condos combined, was unchanged, at $605,000, from July to August. The asking price fell from July to August in about half the counties in the report.

Northwest MLS figures indicate there was around three weeks of inventory (0.70 months) at the end of August. Clark, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston counties had only about three weeks of inventory, with Snohomish reporting the smallest supply (0.49 months), about two weeks.

In about half the counties, the number of new listings outgained the number of pending sales. For all counties combined, last month’s total number pending sales (12,238) surpassed the number of new listings (11,437), a margin of 801 units.

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Source: NWMLS 9/7/21

Home buyers are finding some relief,
but Northwest MLS brokers say it is temporary

Competition for homes eased slightly in July across much of Washington state, but brokers from Northwest Multiple Listing Service expect the respite to be short-lived, with inventory still tight and prices still climbing.

Northwest MLS brokers added 12,916 new listings to the database during July. They reported 11,567 pending sales (mutually accepted offers) areawide, which covers 26 counties. At month end, there were 7,948 total listings offered for sale, down 22.5% from the year-ago total of 10,259. That was the highest level since October when inventory totaled 8,623 properties, including single family homes and condominiums.

NWMLS statistics show there were fewer pending sales last month (11,567), than during both June (12,328) and May (11,969). July’s volume was down about 8.8% from the year-ago total of 12,682 pending sales.

Prices continue to climb by double digits in all but a few counties. Across all areas, prices for closed sales of single family homes and condominiums (combined) jumped 21.4% during July compared to a year ago, rising from $484,995 to $589,000. Last month’s median price overall was unchanged from June.

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Source: NWMLS 8/5/21

Market offers hope for homebuyers,
but it may be temporary

The number of active listings at the end of June, 6,358, reached the highest level since November when buyers could choose from 6,505 properties. The volume of new listings added last month was the highest number in 17 months.

For the tri-county area, total active listings of single family homes and condominiums increased 14.5% from May. System-wide, the report covering all 26 counties served by Northwest MLS shows month-to-month inventory improved 14.9%.

The latest report shows a year-over-year (YOY) drop in active listings of more than 34%, with only about two weeks (0.58 months) of supply available areawide. Last month marked the first time since July 2020 that the year-over-year decline fell below 40%.

Pending sales rose about 3.5% compared with a year ago (from 11,916 to 12,328) but fell slightly from May when mutually accepted offers outgained the number of listings added during the month.

Fewer than 23% of June’s listings had asking prices under $400,000. About a third of the inventory was listed at $800,000 or above.

Brokers reported 10,923 completed transactions during June, a 31.4% increase from twelve months ago, and up 16.5% from May’s total of 9,374. Prices on last month’s sales, which includes single family homes and condominiums, rose nearly 27% from a year ago, from $465,000 to $589,000.

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Source: NWMLS 7/7/21

May marked a month of new records for
some Northwest MLS market indicators

The number of active listings for single family homes dropped from April to May for the first time in at least 20 years. The month-to-month decline was small (only 83 listings), but compared to 12 months ago, May’s inventory plummeted by 4,824 listings (down 46.6%).

Months of inventory of homes and condominiums fell to just over two weeks (0.59 months) system-wide, which encompasses 26 of Washington’s 39 counties.

Year-over-year price increases measured by percentages appeared to hit a new high with the median price on last month’s 9,374 closed sales soaring 30% from a year ago.

Northwest MLS data shows prices on the 8,011 single family home sales (excluding condos) that closed last month sold for 107.3% of the asking price. In the 4-county Puget Sound region (King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap), the figure was 108.6%, while in King County it was 109.5%.

High demand kept supply depleted. At month end, there were 5,533 active listings in the NWMLS database, nearly half the inventory of a year ago when buyers could choose from 10,357 listings.

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Source: NWMLS 6/7/21