Keller Williams Greater Seattle, Ben Kakimoto, Seattle Condo Agent

Seattle Market Update – January 2016

By on February 11, 2016 in Market Updates with 0 Comments

Condo sales activity in Seattle started the year off solidly in January. The citywide Seattle condo median sales price increased 16.28% from last January to $356,500. That did reflect a slight decrease from December by 2.3%, though that’s mostly based on December sales when values are seasonally at their lowest.

Year-over-year median sale prices rose by double-digits throughout Seattle with the downtown, Queen Anne and NE Seattle areas increasing by over 30% over the same period last year. The exception was West Seattle, which exhibited a 9.1% decrease, see chart at bottom of post.

Seattle Condo Median Price Change  Jan 2016

Seattle Condo Median Sales Price Jan 2016

As we expected with the start of the new year condo inventory began ticking up, increasing 26.5% to 196 units over December. However, that’s still 28.2% fewer than we had a year ago, leaving buyers with limited options and robust competition for units.

Even with more Seattle condo units for sale last month, the inventory supply rate remained unchanged at 0.9-months of supply due to swift sales activity, keeping Seattle in a very strong seller’s market.

Typically, an inventory supply rate of less than 3-months is classified as a seller’s market. Between 4-6 months is a normal or balanced market, while more than 6-months is considered a buyer’s market.

Seattle condo market activity Jan 2016

Seattle condo inventory supply Jan 2016

Sales activity picked up at the start of the new year with 225 units going under contract (pending transactions), reflecting a one-month improvement of 35.5% and remaining on par with last January.

Seattle condo pending sales Jan 2016

There were 152 closed Seattle condo sales in January rising 16.9% over the same period last year, but 25.1% less than December. Though, that’s to be expected as closed sales lag pendings transactions by a month or so…thus, January closings are based on December sales, which is the slowest period of the year for sales.

Progressing forward into Spring, inventory levels will trend upwards giving buyers a little bit more options. On the other hand, more buyers will enter the market place increasing the competitiveness for available properties.

Rising values may help convince owners to sell their condos that may help relieve demand…slightly.

Seattle condo closed sales Jan 2016

Seattle condo market stats Jan 2016
Source: NWMLS. Some figures were independently compiled by SeattleCondosAndLofts.com and were not published by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
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About the Author

About the Author: Ben Kakimoto is a Seattle condo and urban real estate marketing & listing specialist. Contact Ben to learn more about the Seattle condo and loft real estate market or about buying or selling a Seattle area condo. Find Ben on Twitter and Facebook. .

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