Northwest Seattle - State of the Market

When comparing February of 2012 to prior years more buyers have entered the market with 172 homes pending, and 82 homes closed. At the same time the number of active listings has steadily decreased from 467 in 2009 to 170 in 2012, and the average days on market for a home to sell was down to 57 days.

We are in a market where the number of listings available is way down while the interest to buy is way up. When comparing the number of active listings to the number of pending listings a ratio can be created. The ratio in February was at 101% and the ratio in the second week of March was 170%. 55% and up is considered a Seller’s Market. So as you see it is a hot Seller’s Market. For homes that are priced right it is not uncommon to see multiple offers and listing price to sales price ratios of over 100%.

Keep in mind, these statistics are averages. Some price ranges are more active than others. Currently the hottest price range is $350K to $400K, while is is slow over 1.25 million.

Now for some bad news…The median home price was down 9% to $415,500 when comparing February of 2007 to February of 2012. However, it is up from the low 2010 and 2011.

With home values lower and mortgage interest rates hovering around 4% the monthly mortgage payment for a home has become much more affordable. In King County it is cheaper to purchase and pay the monthly mortgage of the average home than it is to rent it.

Northwest Seattle includes the neighborhoods of Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford, Green Lake, Phinney Ridge, Loyal Heights, Sunset Hill, Crown Hill, Greenwood, Blue Ridge, Broadview, Bitterlake and more.