Market Update — June 2024
We firmly 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 May 2024 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: 6,689 homes were sold in May 2024. The median price of $660,000 which represents a 7% growth YOY. This total sale volume translates to a dollar value of about $5.6B.
New construction: 904 new construction homes were sold in May 2024. The median sale price of new construction homes was $772,535.
Months of inventory: Given the current quantity of supply, it’ll take less than two 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. The three counties with the lowest months of inventory in May 2024 were Snohomish (1.16), King (1.55), and Pierce (1.67). Once again, the data substantiates the persistent shortage of supply relative to demand.
New listings: 11,572 new listings were added to the NWMLS database in May 2024. This is an increase of 25.1% from May 2023.
Mortgage rates: While the Freddie Mac rate has edged and stayed down from it’s high in October/November 2023, it’s further slightly edged down from April 2024.
Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates over the past 12 months (Source: Freddie Mac)
Broader economy
Big Discrepancy in Jobs Data: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that there were 272,000 jobs created in May, which was much stronger than the 185,000 new jobs that had been forecasted. However, negative revisions to March and April cut 15,000 jobs in those months combined while the unemployment rate rose from 3.9% to 4%, which is the highest since January 2022.
Opportunity in Housing Remains Strong: CoreLogic’s Home Price Index showed that home prices nationwide rose 1.1% in April after rising 1.2% in March, showing that home price appreciation remains strong this spring. Prices are also 5.3% higher when compared to April of last year. CoreLogic forecasts that home prices will rise 0.8% in May and 3.4% in the year going forward, though their forecasts are typically on the conservative side so it’s possible appreciation will be even higher.
