Housing market is booming, even outside of King County

It hasn’t happened since before the 2008 recession, but now new records for median home prices are being set well outside Seattle city limits.

For the first time, a median-priced home in Pierce County costs more than $300,000 — ditto for Kitsap County, according to The Seattle Times. Snohomish County’s typical house is going for nearly $500,000.

For all of King County, the median home price is just over $632,000.

The new record price for a single family home in Seattle is $729,000, up nearly 14 percent from a year ago, the Times reports.

John L. Scott Realtor Eric Shull says the housing market is driven by the Seattle area’s red-hot job market, particularly the tech sector. He says there just aren’t enough homes for the number of buyers.

“A lot of it has to do with the backlog of buyers competing for the shortage of inventory,” he said. “There are so many more buyers in our area that they’re just gobbling them up.”

People looking for a home for $300,000 or less, according to Shull, should consider looking in Pierce or Thurston counties.

However, there are still a lot of cash buyers out there, so Shull recommends people have an offer that’s fully underwritten.