Home listings jump more than 25%: Is it a buyer’s market?

If you’re thinking about buying a house, now might be a good time. Home listings have risen, and pending sales have declined.

Active listings are up more than 25% from a year ago, while pending sales fell nearly 18%, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS).

Anton Alexander with Elev8 Realty Group at Compass Real Estate in Seattle believes it is now a buyer’s market.

“I think buyers have the most choice they have in over a decade. They’ve got time to make their decisions,” Alexander told KIRO Newsradio. “They can ask sellers for credits, whether it’s towards repairs or towards interest rate buydowns. They’ve got leverage to negotiate in multiple ways, which they really haven’t in a long time.”

October home and condo prices decline

In October, condo buyers paid a median price of $435,000, the lowest since February 2023. The overall median sales price fell 3.1% to $620,000, according to the NWMLS.

Sellers need to price their homes correctly, Alexander said.

“Don’t just be looking at comps at what your neighbors sold for a year ago or six months ago because the market shifted dramatically,” he said. “The pricing between June and August saw the most significant and steepest decline since we saw in 2022.”

Home sellers need move-in-ready listings and strong photos

Beyond pricing, sellers need to make sure their homes are move-in ready, and their listing pictures look good, according to Alexander.

“You need to go into this and understand that buyers aren’t just looking at your home; they are looking at 10 other homes,” he said. “They are taking their time. There’s nothing pushing them to make a decision today.”

Mortgage rates ease after mid-October peak

Mortgage rates peaked in mid-October.

According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed rate reached 7.40% in the weeks of October 8 and October 15, the highest weekly average in more than a year.

By October 29, the rate had dropped to 7.24%, compared with 6.17% a year earlier.

“The trends that we’ve seen in previous months continued in October,” Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, said. “Interest rates rose even further, fueled by high inflation. Thirty-year mortgage interest rates averaged 7.33% in October versus 6.86% in September, a rise of nearly half a percentage point.

“Meanwhile, active listings for houses and condos continued to be up substantially on a year-over-year basis, while completed sales and median prices declined,” he continued. “Active listings were lower in October than in September, which is why months of inventory remained the same.”

Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.

Follow @FrankLenziKIRO