March 2023 Real Estate Market Update

Spring is around the corner, and we hope you are enjoying the season and its ever-changing weather. If a weather person reported on our local real estate market they would say it's partly sunny with scattered showers, here's why:

Cloudy... the stronger economic growth (and declining belief in a recession) combined with huge gains in employment reduced the recent trends of lower mortgage rates, and rates have returned to about 7.00%... which is lower than their peaks of 7.5% in 2022, however still higher than 6.25% in January. 

Additionally, economists are predicting a slower decline in rates and less certainty we'll see rates below 5.5% any time soon.  This is a blessing and curse... it's a blessing as it will help buyers & sellers accept the reality of higher rates for the foreseeable future... however it will not help affordability.

Sunbreaks... listings in February took around 20 days to sell, which is up from a year ago (5 days) but down from January (35 days).

More Sunbreaks... listings got more of what they expected with fetching 99% of their list price at closing in February, which was a 2-3% increase from January.

Blustery Winds... buyers are experiencing serious headwinds with low inventory... down to about 0.6 months in Snohomish and 0.9 months in King County... which is nearly as low as we've seen at the peak of the Seller's market in 2020-2022.

Warmer Temps... median home prices showed month to month gains from January to February rising from $639,000 to $643,000 in Snohomish County, and a modest decline in King County going from $722,500 to $718,000. The expectation for the coming months is to see both counties returning to month-to-month price gains.

Forecast For the Spring

We can expect to see a more active market as sellers and buyers gain their footing and begin to act after adjusting to our new mortgage rate environment. The truth of today's market is as long as you can afford the payment, there are some great properties available and in most cases you don't need aggressively compete for them like 12-18 months ago.  Best of all, with mortgage rates expected to decline in the next 12-36 months, a refinance is on the horizon to help reduce your cost of ownership.

While today might not be ideal for everyone thinking of moving to make their move, it is a great time for many. If you have questions about if today's market is right for you... give us a call!