Seattle Sales Market Report for Single Family Home February 2024

The real estate market has followed its usual seasonal trajectory, displaying sluggishness in line with the transition from winter to spring. Interest rates have edged up by a quarter percent in the past month to 6.94%, constraining both potential buyers’ purchasing power and sellers’ willingness to relinquish low-rate mortgages. In February 2024, the counties of Washington monitored by NWMLS experienced a nearly 2% decline in closed sales transactions compared to the previous year, despite a continued upward trend in median prices, which rose by almost 6%.

Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at The University of Washington, commented, “Despite ongoing seller reluctance impacting inventory levels, there has been a slight improvement in year-over-year inventory levels, up by 4% from February 2023. Despite the 2% drop in transaction volume compared to February 2023, the scarcity of available properties for sale has intensified competition among buyers, resulting in a nearly 6% year-over-year increase in median home prices across the Washington counties covered by NWMLS.”