Seattle Housing Market Continues to Rise, Buck Trends

For the fourth month in a row, the price of King County, Wash., houses has risen, reaching a median $465,000 in April.

That price strength bucks national home price stagnation — and even price drops in numerous cities across the country — making King and nearby Puget Sound counties anomalies.

The Seattle housing market’s strength is further confirmed by a Windermere Real Estate analysis that shows the majority of single-family homes sold within Seattle last month went for more than asking price.

That trend was strongest among two-bedroom houses; they brought an average of 100.43 percent of their asking price, Windermere found.

Three bedrooms houses, which accounted for the largest percentage of sales, on average sold for 100.25 percent of asking. Only five-bedroom houses sold for significantly less: 97.6 percent of asking.

The days on the market weren’t abnormally high, either. Some 64 percent of all Seattle mortgage applications and closings were done within 30 days.

Still, both house and condominium inventory is up sharply from year-ago totals. In King County, the number of condos on the market was up 74 percent last month, while the number of houses increased 38 percent.

Last month’s strong sales activity is a turnaround from earlier in the year, said Dick Fulton, mortgage broker of Coldwell Banker Bain’s Lake Union and Magnolia offices.

“The 2007 market kind of found its stride for the first time in April,” Fulton said. “The activity feels like we’re at a faster pace than last year in the Seattle and Bellevue market.”

According to the multiple listing service report, houses in Snohomish County have appreciated the most, year over year, within the four-county central Puget Sound region.

However Snohomish’s price rise has not been as steady as King’s. Over the past four months, as home loan rates spurred buying, home prices have fluctuated in Snohomish, settling at $375,000 in April.

That figure reflects a 13.7 percent year-over-year increase.

House prices in the same time period are up 10.9 percent in King County, 6.9 percent in Kitsap County and 4.4 percent in Pierce County.

King County’s median condo price last month was $295,000, up by 19 percent compared with the previous April. Snohomish’s median condo sale price was $242,500, up 21.3 percent.

Spring traditionally is the strongest season for sales. Whether April will be the strongest month remains to be seen, but Washington mortgage rates remain at or near record lows.

Already asking prices are cooling. King County’s median listing price of $525,000 is just 5 percent higher than a year ago.

That’s why sellers “have to be very aware of pricing their homes properly relative to their competition in their price range,” Fulton said.

“The ones selling are the ones priced competitively relative to their competition in the marketplace.”

With mortgage rates this low, expect Seattle home prices to taper off, but not to decline in the coming months.

SOURCE: Seattle Times