Mortgage interest rates have risen each week for the past two weeks. This is not a surprise after the last Fed rate hike at the end of July. Depending on the loan program mortgage rates are hovering between the high 4s to the mid 5s.
Inventory levels have remained steady in the 240 – 260 range since mid-July. This has helped keep our market in balance. Buyer activity has been relatively strong for the past four weeks, where we’ve averaged 43 homes each week going under contract. This is up a bit from the preceding four weeks when we averaged 40 homes each week going under contract. This is pretty good for August, which tends to be our slowest month of the year. You’ve heard us mention the “summer doldrums”. This is how we typically describe August. So given everything that is going on in the financial markets including interest rates, inflation and some talk of recession, the NW Seattle real estate market has done well in August.
Homes priced appropriately are still selling quickly. For the past two weeks approximately 56% of the homes that went under contract did so in 9 days or less. 29% of these were under contract in 4 days or less. As you can see, homes are still moving quickly.
The average sold price per sq/ft has been steadily decreasing each week throughout August. In July we had 169 homes close at an average price of $585 sq/ft. So far in August we’ve had 150 homes close at an average price of $566 sq/ft. The vast majority of homes are still selling at or above their listing price. However, the number of homes selling above their listing price is coming down. This means that Sellers need to be comfortable with their list price – meaning if you sold at that price, would you feel good about it? This is one of primary discussions regarding list price that Steve and I are currently having with Sellers. List price has always been critical, but in a balanced market it is even more crucial that we are priced correctly from the beginning.
I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend and that you have more exciting plans than I have! I’m hoping I can wrangle my husband to help me work on our aviary over the weekend. Wish me luck on that!
-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
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Windermere Real Estate /FN
