The beginning of 2023 has brought some promising signs for our local real estate market after an uncertain fourth quarter in 2022. Triggered by declining mortgage interest rates and pent-up buyer demand, many of us have seen a return of multiple offers, especially in the mid-range price points. Real buyers are out there; with rates down, it has pushed many off the sidelines who plan to purchase now and refinance once rates come down more.
Forget the old news — 2023 is already promising to be different.
As we end a year that saw the real estate landscape change dramatically, it’s time to recalibrate expectations about the newest “new normal.” We started the year with a strong seller’s market, with multiple competing offers escalating on the few homes for sale. The residential landscape has changed.
Happy fall! If you follow the real estate market, you know that our region continues to rebalance back to a normal market. The latest numbers from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service show King County active listings are nearly doubled from a year ago and pending sales are down.
It has been a high-speed chase in the real estate market — in Seattle and elsewhere — for the past few years, with escalating prices, bidding wars and low inventory. The Federal Reserve tapped the brakes after the spring market with an increase in interest rates, and we saw an immediate slowdown in the home-buying frenzy.
It finally happened: The fever broke. With the rise in interest rates, the Seattle real estate market has experienced a cool-off.
As you by no doubt have heard, our region is experiencing a shift to a more-balanced real estate market. The latest numbers from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service show an increase in inventory and a slowing of sales. Rising interest rates, inflation and a sinking stock market are adding to the changes in activity.
Who would have thought in 2019 that a global pandemic would lead to a real estate boom? Today, we are faced with a new set of uncertainties: a correction in the tech sector of the stock market and inflation.
Wishing you all a beautiful spring ahead.
You’ve heard it all before. The pandemic upended everything, including residential real estate. It seemed like everyone needed more space. For those who could work from home, it meant buying without thinking about commute times or access to transit and was spurred by low interest rates. While that happened here in Seattle, it also played out across the country.
Greater Seattle continues to experience a very active real estate market with a shortage of inventory plaguing the region.
Just like the temperature would suggest, winter is typically a cool time for the real estate market. But 2022 continues 2021’s unusual trajectory: Real estate in Madison Park and our surrounding neighborhoods is hot, with multiple offers common and above-list sales prices the norm.
Phew, it’s been a wild year!
At the end of a year in which so much was unprecedented
Greater Seattle continues to experience a very active real estate market with a shortage of inventory plaguing the region.