Seattle Monthly Housing News

KIRKLAND, Washington (August 5, 2021) – Competition for homes eased slightly in July across much of Washington state, but brokers from Northwest Multiple Listing Service expect the respite to be short-lived, with inventory still tight and prices still climbing.

“Although the local market is intense, buyers can find some relief because there aren’t as many offers to compete with compared to earlier this year,” observed J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. He noted the number of listings brokers added last month outgained the number of homes going under contract by a small margin in most areas in the report.

Northwest MLS brokers added 12,916 new listings to the database during July. They reported 11,567 pending sales (mutually accepted offers) areawide, which covers 26 counties. At month end, there were 7,948 total listings offered for sale, down 22.5% from the year-ago total of 10,259. That was the highest level since October when inventory totaled 8,623 properties, including single family homes and condominiums.

“August historically is the last month of the year with elevated levels of new listings before they slowly taper down in the fall and decline more substantially over the winter,” Scott said, reminding buyers they will find a better selection now than in the coming months.

John Deely, a member of the Northwest MLS board of directors, commented, “There is some ‘normalization’ in our market as it relates to the historical summer slowdown.” Deely suggested the slowdown is occurring earlier this year, noting “We’ve also seen the warm weather in our region begin earlier.” He attributes some of the slowdown in real estate activity to the lifting of pandemic restrictions on June 30 when the state reopened under its “Washington Ready” plan. “People are eager to enjoy the nice weather and take vacations,” observed Deely, the executive vice president of operations for Coldwell Banker Bain.

Another industry veteran also detected some pullback of activity.

“Despite the extreme shortage of inventory and robust sales activity, there seems to be a bit of a leveling off from the market frenzy,” said Gary O’Leyar, broker owner at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Signature Properties. “In my opinion this is due to a typical mid-summer season market combined with some buyer fatigue.”