SEATTLE HOUSING MARKET UPDATE
December 2015 was another RECORD SETTING MONTH FOR SEATTLE REAL ESTATE!!!
The median price of a Seattle home is now $572,000. This is the 2nd highest of all time.
The record was set last month (November 2015) at $576,000.
The median price of a Seattle home is up 18% vs December 2014.
There were 355 pending sales in December, which is down 13% from twelve months ago when 402 pending sales were reported. The reason pending sales were down is because there is no inventory out there to sell.
SO WHAT HAPPENED TO SEATTLE REAL ESTATE IN DECEMBER?
In December there were 361 ACTIVE listings in the Seattle real estate market.
In December 355 homes went PENDING.
Which means that 1 out of every 1.02 homes on the market went pending in December.
This 1.02 ratio implies a 1.02 month supply of inventory.
The 1.02 ratio is a strong SELLER’S MARKET INDICATOR.
THE PAST 12 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.
EPIC RECORD SETTING LOW INVENTORY!!!
In December there were 361 ACTIVE listings in Seattle.
The 361 ACTIVE LISTINGS IS AN ALL TIME RECORD LOW FOR SEATTLE INVENTORY.
The previous record low was 487 which was recorded in last month (November 2015)
The 361 ACTIVE listings is 74% under our 10 year average for December inventory.
Another way of looking at it is that we are only at 26% of our average inventory for this time of year.
The December ten year moving average for inventory is 1,373 ACTIVE listings.
Also if we compare December 2015 to December 2014 we will note that even though inventory was low in December 2014 (627) it was even lower in December 2015 (361). Inventory is down 43% vs 2014.
In the month of December the AVERAGE list price vs sales price for Seattle was 101%.
So the average home sold for 1% over the asking price.
This is the 11th month in a row that the AVERAGE list price vs AVERAGE sales price has been over 100%
The AVERAGE days on market for a Seattle home was 28 days before they accepted an offer.
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 December
- Wedgwood 106%
- Wallingford 104%
- Ballard 104%
- Maple Leaf 103%
- Magnolia 103%
- Ravenna 102%
- Queen Anne 102%
- Capitol Hill 102%
- Madrona 102%
- View Ridge & Hawthorne Hills 101%
- Bryant 101%
- Seward Park 101%
- West Seattle 101%
- Laurelhurst 100%
- Green Lake 100%
- Montlake 99%
- Lake City 99%
THE CHART AND GRAPH BELOW ARE REAL ESTATE STATISTICS FOR THE CITY OF SEATTLE.
If you have any questions or if I can be of any assistance please contact me.
Thank you,
Steve Laevastu
cell 206-226-5300