Market Update — December 2023
We believe timely and relevant data is key to making good decisions. To this end, we are committed to providing our community and clients with actionable data and insights about the local real estate market.
Local real estate market
With the data from November 2023 in, here’s an overview of the key aspects of the local real estate market. The real estate data below is collected from Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS).
Median price: The chart below shows the latest median sales prices of homes over the past three years in the Greater Seattle area over the past three years:
Homes sold: 4,367 homes were sold in November 2023 with the median price of $601,342 (up from $575,000 YOY). This translates to a dollar value of about $3.2B.
New construction: 704 new construction homes were sold in November 2023. The median sale price of new construction homes was $689,385.
Months of inventory: At the current rate of sales, it’ll take around 2.3 months for every listed home to sell. To put this number in context, note that the months of inventory for a balanced market is considered to be 4 to 6 months. So the current data point confirms the enduring shortage of supply relative to demand in the area.
New listings: 4,595 new listings were added to the NWMLS database in November 2023. This is a decrease of -6% from November 2022, which exacerbates the low supply. This indicates fewer property owners are likely to be interested in selling their homes exacerbating the chronic shortage of supply.
Mortgage rates: The Freddie Mac rate has edged down towards 7%.
Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates over the past 12 months (Source: Freddie Mac)
Broader economy
October’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that inflation was flat compared to September, with this monthly reading coming in below the consensus estimate of a 0.1% gain. On an annual basis, CPI fell from 3.7% to 3.2%, near the lowest level in more than two years. Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.2% while the annual reading declined from 4.1% to 4%, reaching a two-year low. Declining gasoline and used car prices and moderating shelter costs helped keep a lid on inflation last month, even in the face of rising costs for motor vehicle and health insurance.
