SEATTLE HOUSING MARKET UPDATE

August 2015 was another GREAT MONTH FOR SELLERS IN SEATTLE!!

The new report summarizing August activity shows year-over-year gains in pending sales.

The median price of a Seattle home is at $560,000. The median price of a Seattle home has remained relatively constant over the past 4 months:

May 2015 = $550,000

June 2015 = $559,000

July 2015 = $560,000

August 2015 = $560,000

There were 763 pending sales in August, which is up 9% from twelve months ago when 696 pending sales were reported.

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO SEATTLE REAL ESTATE IN AUGUST?

In August there were 704 ACTIVE listings in the Seattle real estate market.

In August 763 homes went PENDING.

Which means that 1 out of every 0.9 homes on the market went pending in August.

This 0.9 ratio implies a 0.9 month supply of inventory.

The 0.9 ratio is a strong SELLER’S MARKET INDICATOR.

THE PAST 8 MONTHS HAVE SEEN THE BEST SELLER RATIOS EVER FOR SEATTLE ABSORPTON RATE.

Any ratio under 3.0 is a seller’s market indicator.

Any ratio between 3.0 and 6.0 is a neutral market indicator.

Any ratio over 6.0 is a buyer’s market indicator.

The story remains LACK OF INVENTORY.

In August there were 704 ACTIVE listings in Seattle.

The 704 ACTIVE listings is 63% under our 10 year average for August inventory.

Another way of looking at it is that we are only at 37% of our average inventory for this time of year.

THE 704 ACTIVE listings is the 9th lowest month ever recorded. Slightly higher than the all time low which was set 8 months ago (January 2015) with 581.

Needless to say, the 704 ACTIVE August listings is the lowest number ever recorded for AUGUST in Seattle.

The August ten year moving average for inventory is 1,919 ACTIVE listings.

Also if we compare August 2015 to August 2014 we will note that even though inventory was low in August 2014 (1077) it was even lower in August 2015 (704). Inventory is down 35% vs 2014.

In the month of August the AVERAGE list price vs sales price for Seattle was 103%.

So the average home sold for 3% over the asking price.

This is the 7^th month in a row that the AVERAGE list price vs AVERAGE sales price has been over 100%

And real estate is always LOCALIZED. What I mean is that CERTAIN areas are moving better than other areas. Let’s take a look at list price vs sales prices for some different neighborhoods in Seattle for the month of August