Volume 4 2021 Issue

Mariko Mitsui

Northwest MLS brokers say bidding wars, escalating
prices, and buyer fatigue are widespread
Brokers with Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) added 10,562
new listings to inventory during March -- the highest volume since September
when they added 11,210 properties to the selection. Even so, demand
continued to outstrip supply, keeping inventory depleted.
Brokers logged 10,863 pending sales last month. That volume of mutuallyaccepted offers marked a 22.3% increase from a year ago and a 40.6% surge
compared to February.
“There’s no April fooling when it comes to how hot the housing market isright now,” commented J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L Scott
Real Estate. “In King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties, the current
spring market we’re seeing is one of the best on record.”“The drop in the number of active listings between now and last year isextraordinary,” James Young, director of the Washington Center for Real
Estate Research at the University of Washington exclaimed. NWMLS
statistics show a 55.9% decline in total active listings, shrinking from 9,418
at the end of March 2020 to 4,153 at month end.
Median prices system-wide surged 19.5% compared to a year ago. Themedian price for the 7,803 sales that closed during March was $548,199; ayear ago it was $458,900. Prices rose in every county served by NWMLS,
with seven counties reporting YOY price hikes of 25% or more.
Last month’s median price on closed sales of single family homes andcondos (combined) was up 7% from February’s figure of $512,000.
Excluding condos, the median price on single family homes rose nearly
21% from a year ago, from $470,000 to $567,250. Compared to the previousmonth (February), prices were up 10% OR more in seven counties (Cowlitz,Douglas, Jefferson, Ferry, Island, King, and Pacific).
Condominium prices rose 5.2% year-over-year on closed sales that
increased 16% (from 1,015 closings a year ago to last month’s total of 1,179).
The volume of new listings (1,528) was similar to the year-ago total (1,455),
while the number of active listings (total inventory) dropped 23% YOY.
Pending sales of condos surged nearly 43% from a year ago (from 1,101 to1,574).
NWMLS director, Meredith Hansen, owner/designated broker at Keller
Williams Greater Seattle, noted the Seattle area ranked second nationally inhome price appreciation for the past 12 months. (Phoenix led all cities in thelatest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices.)“If no new inventory came on the market, we are at 2.19 weeks ofinventory, leading to bidding wars, escalating prices, and severe buyer
fatigue,” Hansen remarked.
Market Activity Summary for March 2021
Listings
Single FamilyNewHomes & Condos Listings

Closing Sales

TotalPendingActive# ofAverage

Closings

Price

MedianPrice

King

4,117

1,769

4,054

2,956

$928,617$740,000

Snohomish

1,594

336

1,631

1,192

$651,568$607,475

Pierce

1,686

444

1,861

1,251

$512,728$470,000

Total

7,397

2,549

7,546

5,399

$697,638$605,825

Washington is the best state in the nation
For the second year in a row, Washington has been ranked as the beststate in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. “Washington‘s lowcarbon energy system and robust secondary education system continue
to rank among the nation's best, as does the state's economy, the fastest
growing in the nation," the web-based news magazine reports. It's thefirst time since the rankings began that the same state has been named

Mariko Osterberg

No. 1 for two consecutive years. As in previous years, U.S. Newsranked all 50 states based on data within 71 metrics across eightcategories, such as education, health care and opportunity. But theEvergreen State also has its shortcomings, according to U.S. News.
These include high living and labor costs that stifle opportunity for thestate's residents. Unemployment also remains high, due to the effectsof the pandemic on the economy.

Breakouts! – Residential SOLD Average
March 2021 (King/Snohomish County) SOLD Average
Average $Average $ 2021 VSMar. 2021

Mar. 2020

Auburn-Federal Way (110-310)$ 557,169$ 509,275

9.40%

Kent-Maple Valley (320-340)$ 671,037$ 541,800

23.85%

West Seattle (140)$ 754,688$ 799,065-5.55%

SODO-Beacon Hill (380-385)$ 790,459$ 737,840

7.13%

E.lake-Madison-Capital Hill (390)$ 1,223,420$ 1,114,386

9.78%

Queen Anne-Magnolia (700)$ 1,302,966$ 1,353,459-3.73%

Area (Area Code)2020*Belltown-Downtown Seattle(701) $ 680,450$ 808,581 -15.85%

Ballard-Greenlake (705)$ 962,353$ 914,390

5.25%

North Seattle (710)$ 1,049,405$ 952,725

10.15%

Shoreline/Richmond Beach (715) $ 906,437$ 698,106

29.84%

Bellevue Downtown (520)$ 4,404,574$ 2,735,129

61.04%

Mercer Island (510)$ 2,269,615$ 1,898,069

19.57%

Bellevue South-Newcastle (500)$ 1,561,822$ 1,103,087

41.59%

Renton Highlands-Downtown (350) $ 924,024$ 701,322

31.75%

Microsoft-Bellevue East (530)$ 1,514,744$ 1,290,793

17.35%

Kirkland Downtown (560)$ 1,912,213$ 1,639,317

16.65%

Redmond (550)$ 1,331,249$ 982,134

35.55%

Issaquah-Sammamish (540)$ 1,340,695$ 969,175

38.33%

Juanita-Bothell-Woodinville (600) $ 1,200,524$ 894,079

34.27%

Bothell North-Mill Creek (610)$ 970,134$ 793,087

22.32%

Edmonds-Lynnwood (730)$ 816,440$ 640,397

27.49%

Everett-Mukilteo-Snohomish (740) $ 711,431$ 574,003

23.94%*Condominium SOLD Average

People are finally starting to think about
selling homes instead of buying themConsumer attitudes perked up in March, sending the Fannie Mae
Home Purchase Sentiment Index up 5.2 points compared to February.
The percentage of respondents who say it is a good time to buy a homerose to 53 percent from 48 percent and there was a 3 point decline inthose who viewed the timing as bad.
Attitudes about selling a home increased even more. Sixty-one percent
said it was a good time, up from 55 percent in February while thepercentage who say it's a bad time dropped from 35 percent to 28
percent.

Gina Brown (NMLS#115337)

Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®)

Senior Loan Officer

April 13, 2021

425-766-5408
gina@gmgloan.com
www.loansbygina.com

Regional Breakdown

Average Rates
Fees & Points
APR30-Yr
FNMA30-Yr
FHA15-Yr
FNMA

5/1
ARM

2.750%

2.250%

2.125%-*All loans are with a one point origination fee.

2.886%

3.103%

2.369%-**** 5/1 ARM’s are not pricing right now due to liquidity issues
with the Forbearance due to COVID 19** Owner Occupied / Single Family Residence
740 credit score and 20% down payment for conventional

rellaassociates.com© RELLA & ASSOCIATES