Published April 14, 2023
Spring Real Estate Market Update
The Spring real estate market is blooming though it does look a bit different this year than what we've seen in years past. Let's unpack the numbers, then review why and what's next.
King County we saw positive gains across the board reflecting higher buyer demand as well as the seasonal increase of available listings. Inventory is still incredibly low... near absolute historical lows. Though days on market and list to sell price reflect a lower level of competition in today's market relative to what we saw in past years when days on market was lower and list to sell price ratios were over 104%. We're seeing prices bounce up from their bottoms a few months ago gaining 3.6% month over month, though prices in King County are still down 10.6% from March 2022 which was just before the May/June peak.
Snohomish County saw an interesting twist... significantly higher days on market combined contrasting with significantly higher list to sell price ratios... two metrics which normally move with each other. The sell price ratio reflects higher buyer demand for the listings which are well adjusted to current market values & conditions, while the days on market reflects the stagnation of listings which may still be clinging to the hopes of achieving values from last summer (or those reported those online 'AI' or other automated value models... aka Zillow, Redfin, etc.). Meanwhile, values are also rising by 2.3% month of over month though still 9.5% lower than a year ago.
The buyer demand we're seeing is largely due to the continued broadly strong economy & employment in our region combined with stabilization of mortgage interest rates which have declined from their peaks of 7.25% to 6.0%-6.25% in recent weeks. Additionally, we're starting to see more clients recognizing interest rates will not be returning to their historic lows and will likely continue to range between 7.0% to 5.5% for the foreseeable future (3+ years). As interest rates continue to moderate in the coming months we expect buyer demand to get stronger.
The Inventory increase is largely seasonal... something we consistently see from March to July, though its increase is lesser this year than in recent years, and a sign of reluctance of some sellers to come to market. Though, we're seeing this pick up as well as more sellers are recognizing their goals and priorities for bigger/smaller home, new neighborhood or shorter commute can't be put on permanent hold.
