Market Update — September 2022
With the data from August 2022 in, here’s a snapshot of the key aspects of the local market. The data is collected from Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS):
Median price: The median closed price for residential homes and condos increased by 3.6% year over year (YOY) to $600,000. Since our buyers typically buy properties in King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties, here’s the YOY median closed price increase in these counties:
King: +9.7%
Snohomish: +17.7%
Pierce: +14.1%
As a couple of points of reference from an investment perspective, note that S&P 500 and Nasdaq have moved by -11.1% and -12.1%, respectively.
New construction: 726 new construction homes were sold in August 2022. The median sale price of new construction homes was $738,950, which is up by 6.3% since August 2021.
Months of inventory: At the current rate of sales, it’ll take 1.84 months for every listed home to sell. This number was 0.7 in August 2021. To put these numbers in context, note that the months of inventory for a balanced market is considered to be 4 to 6 months. This underscores the persistent shortage of supply relative to demand. It seems the market is inching toward stability although homes are still under-supplied.
Homes sold: 7,998 homes were sold in August 2022. This translates to a dollar value of $5.94B.
New listings: 9,914 new listings were added to the NWMLS database. This is a decrease of -13.3% from August 2021.
Similar to what we saw back in August 2022, the observation here is that buyers might still have to compete with other would-be homeowners, and depending on the property, some sellers are receiving offers over their asking price.
Buyers insights: While interest rates are going up, two factors help counter higher rates
More lenders are now offering temporary rate buy-down options. This helps buyers to tide over the next couple of years before a potential refinance.
Home prices are growing at a slower pace, which gives a typical buyer more power than they had over the last few years.
