SEATTLE HOUSING MARKET UPDATE
December was another great month for SELLERS in Seattle.
The median price of a Seattle home is now $625,000.
The median price of a Seattle home is up 9% vs December of 2015 when the median price was $575,000.
Please also note that the median sales price for Seattle hit a record of $650,000 in June of 2016. Therefore, the median sales price has come down 4% since the peak in September.
There were 440 pending sales in December which is up 32% from twelve months ago when 333 pending sales were reported.
SO WHAT HAPPENED TO SEATTLE REAL ESTATE IN DECEMBER?
In December there were 392 ACTIVE listings in the Seattle real estate market.
In December 440 homes went PENDING.
Which means that 1 out of every 0.89 homes on the market went pending in December.
This 0.89 ratio implies a 0.89 month’s supply of inventory.
The 0.89 ratio is a strong SELLER’S MARKET INDICATOR.
THE PAST 23 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 December there were 392 ACTIVE listings in Seattle.
The record low was set 12 months ago (December 2015) with 361 ACTIVE listings.
The 392 ACTIVE listings is 67% under our 10 year average for December inventory.
Another way of looking at it is that we are only at 33% of our average inventory for this time of year.
The December ten year moving average for inventory is 1,172 ACTIVE listings.
Interestingly, if we compare December 2016 to December 2015 we will note that in December 2015 there were 361 ACTIVE listings. In December 2016 there are 392 ACTIVE listings. Therefore inventory is up 9% vs one year ago!!
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 in December!!!
This is the 23rd month in a row that the AVERAGE list price vs AVERAGE sales price has been at or over 100%
The AVERAGE days on market for a Seattle home in the month of December was 24 days before they accepted an offer. The record is 14 days which was set in May 2016.
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.
- View Ridge & Hawthorne Hills 105%
- Greenwood 105%
- Ravenna 104%
- Capitol Hill 104%
- Wedgwood 103%
- Bryant 103%
- Green Lake 102%
- Ballard 102%
- Lake City 102%
- Magnolia 102%
- Maple Leaf 101%
- Madrona 100%
- Seward Park 100%
- Wallingford 99%
- Montlake 99%
- Queen Anne 99%
- West Seattle 99%
- Laurelhurst had zero closed sales in December
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
sold@windermere.com
