Market Trends: First Quarter 2019
Statistics from the first quarter of 2019 are here and Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty has crunched the numbers with a look at home price trends in Seattle, the Eastside and Bainbridge Island. The market cooldown that occurred in the final months of 2018 continued early into this year, with home price growth mediating—or slightly declining—and inventory rising once again. Below you’ll find a link to each of the reports with some key insights from the Seattle single-family and condominium markets.
View the Seattle | Single-Family Homes Report
View the Seattle | Condominiums Report
Seattle | Single-Family Homes
Though the median sales price declined by just over 7% from the first quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019 (at $819,000 and $760,000, respectively), the average price per square foot held relatively steady on an annual basis at $456, up by roughly half a percentage point from Q1-2018, when the average price per square foot was $454. The number of homes sold likewise remained largely unchanged from the first quarter of 2018, falling 3.76% to 1,050.
After notably low market times that remained well below one month in the first quarters of 2017 and 2018, homes took significantly longer to sell in the first quarter of 2019, at 47 average cumulative days on market. This may be attributed to a healthier supply of inventory than in previous years, affording buyers more choices in their home searches.
Seattle | Condominiums
Sustained higher levels of inventory in the Seattle condominium market continued through the first quarter of 2019, which reported 2.8 months of inventory, nearly reaching the benchmark three months of neutral market conditions. The influx of home options for condominium buyers has contributed to less home sales and lengthier market times, which reached just over two months in Q1-2019, a markedly higher figure than the first quarters of the preceding two years, when condominiums sold in an average of 23 days in Q1-2017 and 15 days in Q1-2018.
More choices for buyers have resulted in more concessions from sellers and fewer run-up bidding wars than seen in previous years. These conditions pulled the median sales price down by just under 11% from the first quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019, with median sales prices of $492,000 and $438,000, respectively.