The Seattle Condo Blog | Seattle Condos and Lofts

I had been expecting the market to reverse the gains made during the Spring as a result of the first-time and repeat buyer tax credits. True, condo sales did slow considerably in June and to a lesser extent in July, but median price values have been remarkably stable this year.

The citywide median condo price in July checked in at $290,000. That’s a one-month improvement of 1.8% over June and a fairly impressive 7.4% increase over the same period last year. So far this year, 5 of 7 months have shown a year-over-year increase in the citywide median price. And, we’re no longer seeing the wide swings that occurred during the more volatile market place over the past two or so years. That said, though, the results will fluctuate by neighborhood.

The number of active listings actually dipped in July to 1,554 properties…10 units fewer than June. Though, that’s still 10.1% (143 units) more than last July. Inventory levels tends to peak around August, so hopefully we’re seeing the worst of it now.

The inventory supply rate, based on pendings, decreased ever so slightly to 9.2 months of supply, which is still a pretty solid buyers market.

The number of pendings rose 4.9% over June to 169 units, but that was a 20.2% dip from July 2009. The number of closed sales dropped more substantially, down 31.3% from June and 20.8% from July of last year.

Going forward, the market will likely fare better than I’ve been prognosticating as it corrects itself. Although I still remain a bit cautious in my assessment as we haven’t hit bottom yet, I think we’ll continue to see fairly stable citywide condo values over the next few months. Interest rates are expected to remain low, which will help keep the wheels churning. However, we’ll experience slower sales activity as we wind up the year since the 2nd half of 2009 was artificially propped up by the rush to meet the original tax credit deadline last Fall. So, fewer sales but more stable values.