Is the Seattle housing market crashing? Are we at an inflection point? Is it a good time to buy or sell? The answers may surprise you – so thanks for watching.
I’m Emily Cressey, I am a real estate agent here in the Seattle area and have a degree in Economics and enjoy keeping you updated on this stuff.
While no one has a crystal ball for sure, we do want to help you stay educated so you can make good decisions about where to go next with your real estate decisions.
Here Are 4 Key Trends I Want You To Be Aware Of:
New mortgage originations are down, which means fewer new buyers are coming into the market and making offers.
We’re not seeing nearly as many multiple-offer situations and offer “frenzies” as before. Even with offer review dates, many sellers are finding only 1-2 buyers, or NONE making offers on their homes.
Fewer transactions are happening. We’re seeing a decrease in the number of homes that are closing and pending and have been for the last few months.
All this is leading to higher inventory levels which are going to be the main point of conversation today.
What we’re seeing is more inventory on the market due to a slower pace of sales. There is a smaller field of buyers is snapping them up more quickly.
The Number of “Showings Before Sale” Is Declining
However, and this may be counter-intuitive, most homes are getting fewer showings before they go under contract. There just aren’t as many buyers in the field looking at the house in the week before offers go under contract. Our average right now in King County is 14 showings before going under contract. So if your home is getting lots of showings but no offers, it may be a sign that it is overpriced. Also, if it’s not getting ANY showings, it may also be overpriced because we are still in a seller’s market. For now.
However, we are also seeing more homes coming onto the market in 2022- the blue bars show 2022 and the green bars show last year – 2021. So the blue bars are taller, indicating more homes are coming on the market in 2022 than they did at the same time last year.
