It is definitely an interesting real estate market in NW Seattle. Inventory levels have been above 100 for the past three weeks, which is some good news for Buyers. However, this is still much lower than demand. You will read in our May newsletter that we feel we are at the beginning of a market shift. When the market is changing, the shift is usually pretty subtle. The biggest indicator of this is that more homes are missing their review dates – meaning they didn’t receive offers on the review date. We’ve been seeing hints of this for the past 2-3 weeks.
For the past two weeks, only 68% of new listings had review dates. In March, the average was 90% and in April 76% of new listings had review dates. This downward trend in review dates tells us that Listing Brokers feel the market is not quite as strong of Seller’s Market as it was earlier in the year. Again, this is just a minor shift.
However, homes overall are still selling really quickly. This past week, of the 64 homes that went Pending, 91% were under contract in under 10 days, and a whopping 41% were in contract in 4 days or less. The percentage of homes selling within 4 days has been steadily increasing. In March it was 23.5%, April 30% and so far in May it is 34.5%. So now you see why I used the word “interesting” at the beginning of this update. It is interesting that homes seem to be selling faster, while at the same time the market feels slightly less robust.
Another data point to watch is the number of homes that go Pending Inspection – meaning they went under contract with a Buyer Inspection Contingency in place. As the market shifts the number of homes that go Pending Inspection each week will slowly start to increase. It is a little too early to tell if that number is changing. In both March and April the average number of homes that went Pending Inspection each week were just 2 and in May so far it is 3. So again, not a huge change.
Interest rates for the past two weeks have gone up by a ¼ point each week. This is of course having an impact on Buyers’ purchasing power.
The bottom line? Homes are still selling fast and we are in a great Seller’s Market, but the days of a zillion offers on one home are most likely in the past. However, it just takes one great offer!
-Steve & Sandra
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠, 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙/𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒! 𝑊𝑒’𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝!
Steve 📲 (c) 206-769-9577 📧stevehill@windermere.com
Sandra 📲 (c) 206-271-7100 📧sbrenner@windermere.com
🔗 Brennerhill.com
Windermere Real Estate /FN
