Seattle Housing Buzz

Well, not quite. When compared to a year ago, yes, King County’s active listings (single family homes & condos) are up 44.3% from the prior year…but that’s been the case for most of the year.

In actuality, when compared to September, the inventory level fell 2% in October to 14,240 listings in King County. Seattle’s overall inventory inched up slightly by 2.6% to 4,197 listings.

Pending sales in the county increased 7.4% and in Seattle by 9.8% from September to October. Compared to a year ago, pending sales are down 28.5% in the county and 20.5% in Seattle. Pending sales reflect properties that went under contract but have not yet closed. In other words, more buyers made home purchases in October compared to September, though fewer overall compared to the same period last year. The median price in county and city fell to $387,500 and $396,250, respectively.

The inventory absorption rate decreased to 6.0 months in the county and 5.3 months in Seattle. What this means is that if no new listings come on the market, it will take 6 months to sell the current inventory in the county and 5.3 months to sell the inventory in Seattle. A lower absorption rate indicates a seller’s market while higher rates reflect a buyer’s market. A year ago, Seattle’s absorption rate was 2.7 months and the county’s was 2.9 months. Currently, inventory levels in the county and city reflect a normal market environment.

For condo specific market information, please visit the Seattle Condo Blog’s Seattle Condo Sales Performance - October.

Source: NWMLS (single family homes & condos)

Tags: Absorption Rate, Seattle Housing Data

Housing Activity Still Slower Than Year Ago, But Showing Some Signs of Reviving

KIRKLAND, Wash. (Nov. 6, 2007) – Pending sales perked up around Western Washington in October, reversing four months of month-to-month declines, according to new figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). The report also shows some slowing in both listing activity and price appreciation.

Brokers reported 6,127 pending sales (offers made and accepted, but not yet closed) across the 19 counties served by Northwest MLS. That total includes 379 more transactions than September (a 6.6 percent gain), but still lagged activity of a year ago. Compared to the same month a year ago, October’s pending sales were down about 28 percent.

MLS members added 11,785 new listings to inventory – the fewest number since February when they added 11,333 new listings. With those additions, there were 47,381 active listings of single family homes and condominiums in the MLS system, about 31 percent more than a year ago.

The current selection includes 40,252 single family homes with an area-wide median asking price of $375,000 and 7,129 condominiums, listed at a median price of $289,900.

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Tags: NWMLS, Seattle Housing Data