Seattle Real Estate News November 2022
The Personal Seattle Real Estate News
Seattle Real Estate News November: Buyers are benefiting from more choices in inventory and less competition.
KIRKLAND, Washington (November 7, 2022) – Brokers with Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) are reporting a return to some creative financing methods as motivated home buyers and sellers grapple with higher mortgage rates. Despite that, and the seasonal slowdown in activity, 6,435 hopeful homebuyers succeeded in having sellers accept their offers to purchase during October.
“Buyers are benefiting from more choices in inventory and less competition, while sellers are more negotiable when it comes to contingencies,” reported NWMLS director Meredith Hansen. “We are seeing more 2/1 buydowns and adjustable-rate mortgages with buyers planning to refi when the rates come back down,” added Hansen, the founder and operating principal at Keller Williams Greater Seattle.
The latest Northwest MLS shows 6,435 pending sales last month, and about the same volume (6,464) of closed sales. Both figures were down from the year-ago totals, with pending sales dropping about 39% and closings declining around 35%.
Median sales prices still rose year-over-year in most of the 26 counties on the report. Area-wide, the median price on last month’s completed sales of single family homes and condominiums was $595,000. That was an increase of about 3.5% from twelve months ago, but a decline of approximately 9% from May when prices peaked at $660,000.
Homes and condos in San Juan County commanded the highest prices, with a median sales price of $911,000 – and that was a 7.5% decline from a year ago. Last month’s closings in King County had a median price of $811,000, up more than 8% from the year-ago figure of $750,000.
A comparison of counties shows price drops in nine of them. Seven counties had double-digit gains, but improved inventory and interest rates were the storyline for many of the brokers who commented on the NWMLS statistics.
