Last week home Buyers and Sellers received an early holiday gift from the Fed. At the Fed meeting on December 13th, they did not raise short-term interest rates. This was expected, and Wall Street had a positive response. (Hopefully, you see this in your 401K!) The Fed statement and its internal projections indicate that the Fed has finally stopped raising rates. The majority of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) members believe that the Fed will ease rates by at least 75 basis points in 2024.
This has all been great news for Buyers and Sellers! Interest rates are down a ½ point from two weeks ago and down by a whopping 1-5/8th since the high in October of 7.875%. Just as an FYI, rates did hit 8%, but since I quote the Friday rates from Wells Fargo, I’m keeping everything apples to apples.
Enough about rates, let’s look at what is happening with sales in our local markets. Not surprisingly, the market activity is pretty slow. There are fewer homes coming on the market because of the holidays. However, Buyers are still out there. In NW Seattle homes going under contract were up by 28.9% over the previous two weeks. Buyer activity was down a modest 2.5% in SW Snohomish. With few listings coming on and Buyer activity remaining relatively good, overall inventory levels are coming down in both markets. We are down 14% in NW Seattle and down 4% in SW Snohomish County. This trend should continue through the rest of the year and into the first few weeks of January.
This is our last Market Update for 2023. We hope you’ve enjoyed our thoughts on the market. We are expecting 2024 to be a more robust year in real estate. We believe there is pent-up demand for both Buyers and Sellers. The lowering of interest rates will move both Buyers and Sellers off of the proverbial fence and back into the market.
If you are thinking about buying or selling next year, we have two great classes coming up – our Home Buying Seminar on Saturday, January 27th and our Home Selling Seminar on Thursday, February 8th. Click on the links to learn more!
We hope everyone has a joyous holiday and a fabulous New Year! We’ll be back on January 2nd.
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 HILL
Broker | REALTOR® | Luxury Advisor | Premier Director
CELL 206-769-9577
SANDRA BRENNER
Managing Broker | REALTOR® | MCNE | SRS | CRS®
CELL 206-271-7100
WINDERMERE REAL ESTATE / FN
12250 Greenwood Ave N
Seattle, WA 98133
MAIN 206-367-4720
brennerhill.com
Equal Housing Opportunity
