Real estate sales in North Seattle are pushing ahead strongly as we head into summer, echoing the statistics we're seeing from much of the greater Seattle market. The real estate inventory is particularly scarce in North Seattle, with less than one month of inventory available to buyers, making it one of the tightest local markets.
Residential sales for North Seattle (from NWMLS areas 705 and 710) show 336 homes sold in May of 2013. That was a large bounce from April, in which we saw a very healthy 255 residential sales.
North Seattle Residential Real Estate Sales, Months of Inventory of Homes For Sale
The spring bounce in home sales, partly due to the season, is still more than cyclically significant. We don't often see a 31.8 percent increase in sales in a single month. The trend points to a very competitive summer of selling in North Seattle.
A lack of inventory of homes for sale is straining buyers, though they seem to just become more competitive each month. The total number of monthly sales in North Seattle now eclipses the average number of homes on the market at any time. Effectively, the market has reached a point where it is turning over almost every new listing within the first month. Less than one month of inventory is an extremely skewed seller's market.
This isn't a surprise to potential home buyers in Wallingford, Green Lake, Ballard, or Fremont. A quick glance at the latest sales in those areas show more than half of them occuring within 1 week on the market. These are likely all multiple-offer situations. Bidding wars are not just becoming more prevalent, they've become commonplace.
New Residential Real Estate Listings in North Seattle, Monthly
Still, the rate of new listings in the area does give some hope to home buyers. As we've documented before, there are just as many new homes coming on the market this year as there were in past years. Buyers still have new opportunities every week to browse new home listings. They just have to be far more aggressive to nab the home.
These numbers surprise a lot of house hunters who often state that "there's nothing for sale in the North end." While they are correct in that there are very few older listings languishing on the market, the facts show that there are actually more new listings available each week this year than there were last year. Sellers are taking notice of the upswing in prices. Buyers are responding aggressively. So far, that trend looks to continue throughout the summer.
© SeattleHome.com: - Sam DeBord, Managing Broker, Realtor
Board of Directors, Washington Association of Realtors
Coldwell Banker Seattle: Coldwell Banker Danforth & Associates
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Google + | Sam (at) SeattleHome.com
Source: NWMLS Stats - The Northwest Multiple Listing Service did not compile or publish this information.
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