Market Update — September 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 August 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: 6,727 homes were sold in August 2024. The median price of $645,000 which represents a 4.9% growth YOY. This total sale volume translates to a dollar value of about $5.4B.
New construction: 834 new construction homes were sold in August 2024. The median sale price of new construction homes was $720,000.
Months of inventory: Given the current quantity of supply, it’ll take 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. The counties with the lowest months of inventory in August 2024 were Snohomish (1.41), Kitsap (1.61), Thurston (1.7), King (2.08), and Pierce (2.08). The data indicates the persistent shortage of supply relative to demand.
New listings: 8,941 new listings were added to the NWMLS database in August 2024 representing an increase of 9.7% compared to August 2023.
Mortgage rates: This month the Freddie Mac rate continued to edge down and arriving at a range comparable not seen since May 2023.
Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates over the past 12 months (Source: Freddie Mac)
Broader economy
Consumer Inflation Continues to Moderate: Inflation has been moderating and is heading toward the Fed’s 2% target as measured by Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE). The cooling consumer inflation we’ve seen in recent months combined with signs that the job market is slowing have led to growing calls for the Fed to begin cutting their benchmark Fed Funds Rate, which is the overnight borrowing rate for banks
Home Prices Hit Another New High: The Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which is considered the “gold standard” for appreciation, showed home prices nationwide rose 0.2% from May to June after seasonal adjustment, breaking the previous month’s all-time high. Home values in June were also 5.4% higher than a year earlier, following a 5.9% gain in May.
