Greater Seattle Real Estate Picking Up? Jan 2023 Report
Northwest MLS Real Estate Report
Has the real estate market picked up? The NWMLS, including the Greater Seattle real estate market, has seen some positive signs. Pending sales in January are up 44% over December. While pending sales are still down 9% last January, back when interest rates were at historically low levels, the market has shown resilience to begin 2023. For example, prices in January are up 0.41% when compared with last January.
The improved market seems to correlate with the recent interest rate drop. Interest rates peaked in November with a Freddie Mac U.S. weekly average of over 7%. Last week, that number was 6.09%.
Inventory is up from the historically low numbers from a year ago. This January ended with 8,220 active listings versus 3,092 a year ago. Nevertheless, across the NWMLS inventory is only 2.52 months which is still a seller’s market. Four to six months is an even market. While there are a few counties with over 6 months of inventory (buyer’s market), the larger counties still have low inventory. For instance, King (2.26 mo), Snohomish (1.71 mo), and Pierce (2.13 mo) combine to have over half of the NWMLS active listings; yet, all have less than 3 months of inventory (seller’s market).
Greater Seattle Real Estate Market
Following is a look at homes, condos, luxury real estate, and waterfront homes in Seattle, Bellevue, and Mercer Island for the past month.
Seattle, Bellevue, and Mercer Island Homes
The number of sales on Mercer Island were minimal both this January and last. Thus, it is hard to see if a real estate market trend when one or two large sales can change the numbers drastically. This January there were 8 Mercer Island home sales compared to 7 the previous January. In January 2022, there were two sales over $5 million, this January the highest sale was $2.835 million. The most expensive sale from either month was the Mercer Island waterfront home that sold for $7.680 million in 2022. No other waterfront homes sold during either January.
In the greater Bellevue real estate market which including Clyde Hill, Medina, Hunts Point and Yarrow Point, sales were down from 48 to 25 when comparing both Januarys. On the other hand, both median and average prices were up drastically. Average home prices last year were $2.527 million and this year average prices were $3.034 million. In addition, median prices went from $1.713 to $2.275 million. Unlike Mercer Island, a couple large sales did not seem to skew the numbers. In fact, January 2022 had two sales over $11 million, while January 2023 had none.
Like the Bellevue area, Seattle had less sales (448 vs 291) along with a higher median ($780,000 vs $802,000) and average price ($932,000 vs $933,000) when comparing January 2023 with the previous year. The highest sale in January 2023 was a Magnolia home built in 2019 that sold for $3.300 million. The highest sale in January 2022 was an unlisted Seattle waterfront property sold by Ewing and Clark. It sold for $8.250 million.
Condo Market in Seattle, Bellevue, and Mercer Island
The NWMLS condo market saw a price decrease of 2.5% from the previous January. Only four counties saw an increase over the previous January (Skagit, Pacific, Kitsap, and Thurston). Thus prices in King County, like every other county, saw a decrease. For instance, Seattle condo average price decreased from $583,000 to $565,000 while median prices decreased from $500,000 to $485,000. Similar to home sales, Seattle condo transactions decreased significantly (212 vs 89). Meanwhile, Bellevue condos had a huge decrease in sale price on less sales (30 sales in Jan 2022 vs 15 sales this Jan). For example, average price decreased from $955,000 to $678,000. Likewise, the Bellevue median prices declined ($834,000 vs $550,000). Lastly, Mercer Island condo market is very small. For instance, there were 4 sales last January and 1 this January.
Seattle, Bellevue, and Mercer Island Luxury Real Estate Market
Bellevue and Mercer Island are both luxury home markets. For example, out of eight Mercer Island homes that sold this past month, 4 sold for over $2 million and none sold for under $1 million.
The average sales price of a home in the Bellevue area, including Hunts Point, Medina, Clyde Hill, and Yarrow Point, was just over $3 million. Furthermore, over half (13 out of 25) of the Bellevue homes sold for $2 million or more. The most expensive home was a Clyde Hill home that sold for $10.5 million after 5 days on the market.
The average sales price for a Seattle home is $933,000 which is significant, but not nearly as high as Bellevue and Mercer Island. In addition, Seattle had a total of 8 sales over $2 million. Twice as many as Mercer Island but less than the Bellevue area. However, either way, it is a much smaller percentage of sales since 291 Seattle homes sold this January.
Is Greater Seattle Real Estate Slowing Down?
As seen throughout blog, sales are down across the real estate market, but prices are up for homes and down for condos. Thus, the greater Seattle real estate market has slowed in number of transactions, but not necessarily in sale price. Nevertheless, the future real estate market is hard to predict. Every real estate market brings new challenges. To navigate the current issues, contact one of Ewing and Clark’s real estate brokers. Ewing and Clark has provided exceptional real estate service to Greater Seattle since 1900. Whether you are looking for a waterfront property in Whidbey, a luxury home in Queen Anne, or your first Seattle home, please contact us
