Holiday home sales brisk, MLS figures show
Jan 8, 2015, 10:14 AM | Updated: Mar 4, 2016, 5:46 am
If appreciation “floats all boats” in the real estate market, many homeowners are still docked at the marina.
The inventory of Puget Sound homes for sale continues to be extremely thin, according to the latest statistics from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
MLS figures show there were 4,367 new listings added to inventory during December, about the same as a year ago when members added 4,333 homes to the selection. At month end, there were 17,659 homes and condos for sale. That’s down nearly 8.1 percent from the year-ago inventory of 19,214 active listings, the MLS reported.
Brokers are reporting tight inventory in several neighborhoods, particularly around job centers.
“Buyers barely slowed down long enough to take a break for Christmas,” said OB Jacobi, Windermere Real Estate president. “All this sales activity has eaten even further into already low inventory levels.”
MLS figures show about 2.8 months of inventory system-wide. Of the 21 counties in the monthly statistical report, King County has the tightest inventory, with only 1.4 months of supply. Snohomish County was slightly better, with about 2.2 months of supply. Six months is typically considered a healthy balance between supply and demand.
Prices climbed nearly 5.5 percent from a year ago, rising from an area-wide median selling price of $275,000 to last month’s figure of $290,000. That matches the price reported for October’s sales; a figure that was only surpassed in July when the median sales price overall was $300,000.
As usual, San Juan County led the state with a median price of 449,700. The median price for a King County home was $400,000, up from $375,900 in December, 2013.
Northwest Multiple Listing Service includes more than 21,000 real estate brokers and serves 23 counties in Washington State.
