Market Update - February 2021

In the latest episode of Market Update for February 2021, Aaron Janus and new team member Diane Davi give us an in-depth look at the current state of the Seattle real estate market. Home sale prices are up across King County (9.3% year-over-year, to $644,950), demand from Seattle area home buyers remains strong to into February, with just 0.9 months of available inventory, and mortgage rates remain steady near historic lows (just 2.73%)! If you're thinking about buying or selling a Seattle area home, now is the time, this spring market is hot hot hot.

Watch the video above, listen to the audio, or read the transcript below.

Read The Transcript

Aaron Janus, Seattle Realtor: Welcome to February.
Diane Davi, Seattle Realtor: I know, it's cold outside!
Aaron: Yes, but the Seattle real estate market is sure heating up.
SILENCE

And now your Seattle real estate market update with Aaron Janus.

Aaron: Before we get into the latest info about the market, in case you missed our last video, I wanted to introduce our newest team member. Welcome, Diane Davi.

Diane: Thank you, Aaron, but we have a lot to cover, so let’s get right into those numbers.

Aaron: Alright. It's all business here today. Okay, these numbers are for the month of January from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. We'll start with January numbers and then we'll talk in more detail about what's been happening in the first half of February a little bit later on in the video.

And as always let's start with median sales prices. In Seattle, we're at $745,500, which is up 11.2% year over year. On the Eastside we’re at $891,475 which is up 14.2% year over year, and if we look at all of King County, we're at $644,950, which is up 9.3% year over year.

Diane: Wow.

Aaron: So, Diane, let's talk inventory, how are those numbers looking?

Diane: Well, Aaron, starting with Seattle, inventory is up 47% year over year, with pending sales up 34%. Now, there's currently one and a half months of inventory in Seattle - just crazy. If we look at the Eastside, active inventory is down 41% year over year, and pending sales are down five percent. On the Eastside we’re currently sitting at point seven months worth of inventory now. If we look at all of King County, we're down 12% year over year with pending sales up six percent over last year we currently have 0.9 months of inventory in King County.

So, Aaron, what's happening then with interest rates, because I'm dying to know about that.

Aaron: Yeah, so I'm glad that you asked, thank you. So, per Freddie Mac for the week ending February 4th, the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate average was 2.73%, which is down 0.72% from the same time last year when rates were at 3.45%. Freddie Mac says that mortgage rates remain pretty flat this week, and near record lows.

So, now it's time for those weekly stats.

Diane: That's right.

Aaron: So, let's take a look at what's happening across the MLS which stretches of course well beyond Puget Sound. Alright, so as you can see here new listings have outpaced 2020 every week so far this year with pending listings on a significant upswing. Pending listings at this pace are the strongest we've seen since October, with year over year upticks between eight and thirty two percent each week, just another sign that the spring real estate market has already sprung here in Seattle. And we're only halfway through winter.

Alright, Diane, so what does the real estate market here in Seattle look like right now, February 2021?

Diane: Well Aaron, as we mentioned at the top, there's just 1.5 months of available inventory in the city of Seattle right now.

Aaron: That's crazy.

Diane: I know, right? So, what that means is that if no more new homes came on the market, it would take just 1.5 months to sell everything on the market right now. If you look outside the city of Seattle, we’re seeing even more activity and only about a half a month of inventory in Southwest King County - this is areas like Burien, Des Moines, and Federal. Way. We're only at point four months of available inventory in Southeast King County and this means the Renton, Auburn, and Kent areas.

So another fact to keep in mind here is that of the homes and condos listed in the first two weeks of February in King County — 52% of them are reviewing offers right now! This is the highest percent of listings reviewing offers in the 13 months we've been tracking this statistic.

And of course, the homes and condos listed in the first two weeks of February in King County, if it didn't get any more interesting, 49% of them have already accepted an offer!

Aaron: Wow.

So what you're saying is it's a pretty hot market?

Diane: It is pretty hot.

Aaron: That's amazing. Well everyone, thank you so much. We appreciate you joining us for this month's Market Update. Thank you, Diane, for joining us. This is our inaugural joint Market Update. Let us know what you think, please, and subscribe and stay tuned to see what's next.

Thank you so much. Take care.

House Goals Realized. JanusGroup at RE/MAX Integrity.