Buyers fighting for homes as mortgage rates rise

June was only just a little less hot than May, at least as far as the area's real estate market was concerned, according to a new report.

Sales of houses and condos were up 14.1 percent in King County and 8.5 percent in Seattle from a year earlier, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported Wednesday. That's a lot, but less than May's increases of 19.3 percent and 21.4 percent, respectively.

New listings and slightly lower sales boosted the county's inventory of homes for sale to 1.7 months (that's how long it would take to sell all the homes listed at the current sales pace), up from 1.5 months in May. That's still down from 2.4 months of inventory a year ago and way below the 6 months generally considered the balancing point between favoring buyers and sellers. Read more here.