Puget Sound Home Buyers Finally Have a Chance

For the last several years we have experienced the craziness of the hottest housing market in generations across the nation and especially here in the Puget Sound. Certainly, this has been the hottest sellers market that I have ever experienced. We have all sensed that market has shifted in the buyers favor in the last couple of months and I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the related metrics. The following statistics are from the NWMLS, the primary multiple listing service for Western Washington. I excluded condos for the purpose of this analysis.

To keep these charts reasonable, I used King County as an indicator of broader trends in the region. If you are interested in statistics from another area, send me a note and I’m happy to put that together for you. In June of 2021, there were 1,456 homes for sale in King County. The number has increased over 76% to 3,256 homes for sale in June of 2022.

At the same time, fewer transactions are closing. In June of 2021, 3194 transactions closed and in June of 2022, 2482 transactions closed.

One would normally expect with increased inventory and decreased demand that you would begin to see downward pressure on pricing. While I believe that is coming, we haven’t quite seen it yet. The median home value has increased 9.1% across all of King County from June of 2021 to June of 2022.

I believe the market will continue to degrade for sellers. So, if you are thinking about selling your home now maybe your best opportunity. On the other hand, if you are thinking about moving you finally have some leverage and may not be competing against 15 other families for the home of your dreams.
Let me know if I can help you in your home search or sale, I’m happy to.