Seattle Gears Up for an Historic Busy Season
To say Seattle’s housing market is busy would be an incredible understatement; King County continues to break state and national records in the real estate sector each month. Home prices continue to rise while selling times continue to shrink and May is expected to bring more of the same. According to Zillow’s Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell, there are 3 percent fewer homes on the market than last year, which means “2017 is shaping up to be another competitive buying season.” This 3 percent decrease is taking into account the 50 percent increase, in newly listed homes in the Seattle area, over February. This demand has lead to the Puget Sound region experienced the most profitable month in history in real estate this March, with the median single-family home price hitting nearly $600,000, and hitting $700,000 in Seattle.
What does this look like for prospective homebuyers and home-sellers? If you are preparing to purchase a house this Spring, brokers are reporting more multiple offers than ever on new listings and cash offers are consistently dominating the bids. This may sound daunting, but what it really means is you should come prepared. Find a broker you can trust to do the bidding, the talking and the closing for you – someone with experience and who you have faith in getting the job done. For the record, downtown Seattle and the Renton-Highlands/Kennydale area were several neighborhoods where the median home price actually decreased.
If you are a homebuyer, the timing has never been more opportune to list your property. Zillow reports that homes put on the market between May 1st – May 15th “tend to sell nine days faster and sell 1 percent above the asking price.” If you can plan to place your home on the market on a Saturday, these also see the most traction based on Zillow’s website data. When preparing your home for sale in the Seattle area, you can also take comfort that demand is showing no signs of slowing down. The rising Seattle areas employment coupled with the intensity of the rising rent prices have many hoping to switch over to home ownership. This demand is intensified by the decreasing number of homes for sale across the Seattle metro area; which has declined 67 percent in the last five years, according to Trulia. Overall, Springtime in Seattle will surely prove to be another interesting, yet hectic, time for real estate.
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