Home price around Seattle increases will be ‘less hot’ in 2017

Real estate experts predict another hot housing market in 2017, but home values will appreciate at a slightly slower pace.

The chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, Lennox Scott, said that in King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties, homes are more than 10 percent more expensive than they were a year ago.

In 2017, that growth may be between 8-9 percent overall.

“We’re just talking degrees of hotness. We’re just coming down one degree of hotness,” Scott said.

He said housing markets typically go in a 10-year cycle. He described the current phase as being the seventh year of a 10-year cycle.

Scott said two factors typically slow down a cycle: higher interest rates and slower job growth.

Both of those things are happening in 2017, but not to a significant level. Current job growth is more than 3 percent, and the Puget Sound Economic Forecaster predicts 2-3 percent in 2017.

While some scaling back may happen, the first few months of the year will still see a bidding frenzy.

“When buyers come out of the woodwork right after the first of the year, there aren’t a lot of new listings on the market. That doesn’t happen until the end of February or March,” Scott said.