SEATTLE HOUSING MARKET UPDATE
March 2016 was another RECORD SETTING MONTH FOR SEATTLE REAL ESTATE!!!
The median price of a Seattle home is now $627,000. This is a new record.
The old record was set in February 2016 at $625,000.
The median price of a Seattle home is up 23% vs March 2015.
There were 824 pending sales in March, which is down 3% from twelve months ago when 848 pending sales were reported.
SO WHAT HAPPENED TO SEATTLE REAL ESTATE IN March?
In March there were 501 ACTIVE listings in the Seattle real estate market.
In March 824 homes went PENDING.
Which means that 1 out of every 0.6 homes on the market went pending in March.
This 0.6 ratio implies a 0.6 month supply of inventory.
The 0.6 ratio is a strong SELLER’S MARKET INDICATOR.
The 0.6 ratio is the BEST RATIO EVER RECORDED FOR SEATTLE REAL ESTATE!!!!
THE PAST 15 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 March there were 501 ACTIVE listings in Seattle.
The 501 ACTIVE LISTINGS IS THE FIFTH LOWEST NUMBER EVER RECORDED.
The record low was set three months ago (December 2015) with 361 ACTIVE listings.
The 501 ACTIVE listings is 68% under our 10 year average for March inventory.
Another way of looking at it is that we are only at 32% of our average inventory for this time of year.
The March ten year moving average for inventory is 1,552 ACTIVE listings.
Also if we compare March 2016 to March 2015 we will note that even though inventory was low in March 2015 (603) it was even lower in March 2016 (501). Inventory is down 17% vs 2015.
In the month of March the AVERAGE list price vs sales price for Seattle was 105%.
The 105% list price vs sales price average is a NEW SEATTLE RECORD!!
The previous record was 103% which was set in April 2015 and again in May 2015
So the average home sold for 5% over the asking price in March!!!
This is the 14th 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 22 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 February
- Lake City 123%
- View Ridge and Hawthorne Hills 115%
- Green Lake 113%
- Wallingford 113%
- Ravenna 110%
- Wedgwood 109%
- Maple Leaf 108%
- Ballard 107%
- Laurelhurst 105%
- Capitol Hill 105%
- Magnolia 105%
- Bryant 103%
- Queen Anne 103%
- West Seattle 102%
- Seward Park 101%
- Madrona 100%
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