Are the Winds Dying Down for Seattle Real Estate?
Seattle real estate just experienced a three month stretch where the amount of single family homes for sale surpassed the year prior. During that same stretch, the amount of pending sales stagnated or dropped compared to the year prior.
In King County, both April and May had more active inventory compared to 2017. Most recently in May, the amount of King County pending sales of single family homes grew 3.15% compared to 2017. However, in Seattle, the amount of pending sales dropped 4.37% in May compared to 2017.
A couple thoughts come to mind, one of which being that this could just be a blip on the radar. I've seen blips in previous years that made me wonder if Seattle had hit a point of affordability, only to see prices continue shooting up from there.
The entire 2nd half of 2016 saw active listings outpace the year prior in Seattle, yet prices continued their rapid ascent. Then in 2017, prices continued rising as active inventory fell for 11 of the 12 months.
Regardless, any increase in active inventory is good news for buyers who are getting priced out of Seattle real estate, which may be what the Seattle real estate data is signaling based on the growth in pending sales in King County juxtaposed by a drop in pending sales in Seattle.
Or, maybe it's just a case of more homeowners starting to cash in on the equity they've built...
***“Information and statistics derived from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
