Market Recap

The real estate market has remained slow in accordance with typical seasonal patterns, with expected increases in activity as winter transitions into spring. Interest rates have increased by a quarter percent over the past month to 6.94%, continuing to inhibit prospective buyers’ purchasing power as well as prospective sellers’ willingness to give up low rate mortgages. For the Washington counties covered by NWMLS, February 2024 saw a nearly 2% decrease in closed sales transactions year-over-year, although median prices have continued to rise with a year-over-year increase of nearly 6%.

Important takeaways from February’s data:

• The median sales price of homes increased in 19 out of 26 counties and decreased in 7 counties relative to February 2023. The three counties with the highest median sale prices were King ($820,000), Snohomish ($715,000) and San Juan ($671,000). The three counties with the lowest median sale prices were Grant ($300,425), Pacific ($236,025) and Columbia ($174,500).
• The number of homes on the market increased throughout Washington with 17 out of 26 counties seeing a year-over-year increase. Overall, there was a nearly 4% year-over-year increase in active property listings in Washington counties covered by NWMLS.
• Ten of the 26 counties included in the report saw an increase in the number of homes sold year-over-year, while 14 counties saw a decrease in the number of homes sold year-over-year. Two counties, King and Pacific, saw relatively no change in the number of year-over-year sales transactions.
• Condominium sales continue to show strong growth throughout the NWMLS service areas, with 636 units sold in February 2024, which is a year-over-year increase of more than 9%. The median sale price of condominiums increased more than 15% year-over-year, from $430,000 at the end of February 2023 to $496,500 in February 2024.

“Although seller reluctance has continued to stifle inventory levels, year-over-year inventory levels have improved slightly – an increase of 4% – relative to February 2023,” said Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at The University of Washington. “Despite the year-over-year transaction volume decline of 2% over February 2023, low levels of for-sale inventory have led to increased competition amongst buyers, producing a nearly 6% year-over-year increase in median home prices across the Washington counties covered by NWMLS.”