Seattle Condo Review December 2024
Seattle’s condo market ended 2024 on a little bit of a whimper. Unit sales were up but selling priced dropped for the second month in a row.
Citywide, Seattle’s median sales price for condominiums was $550,000, down 6% year-over-year and 4.3% from the prior month. That said, December is historically is the slowest month for real estate sales in the Northwest and typically exhibits the lowest median selling prices for the year. As we move on form the holiday season and with improving weather, we will see this trend back up through Spring.
By NWMLS neighborhood areas, only Northeast Seattle reflected a year-over-year increase in its median sales price, up 60%. The remainder of the city experienced decreases for the month. The most notable were downtown (-22.8%), Southeast Seattle (-14.1%), Northwest Seattle (-10.8%), Queen Anne/Magnolia (-10.3%) and Northwest Seattle (-9.1%). See complete results at the end of the post here.
The number of listing for sale fell in December and we ended the month with 531 listings. That’s a one-month drop of 26.9%, but year-over-year increase of 40.8%.
We started the month with 726 listings and sellers added 147 new listings for a total of 873. Of that 342 listings came off market, either pending/sold, expired, cancelled, rented or were temporarily off market due to the holidays.
Our market is seasonal and December typically exhibits the fewest number of listings for sale during the year. We will see listings increase with the start of the new year through the summer months.
The inventory supply-rate dipped slightly in December to 3.5-months of supply, keeping Seattle, as a whole, in a Seller’s market.
The inventory supply rate is a metric that classifies the current state of the real estate market. A rate of less than 4-months of supply is characterized as a seller’s market. A rate between 4 to 7-months is a balanced or normal market. And, a rate over 7-months is considered a buyer’s market.
There were 153 pending condo sales transactions in December. That reflected a year-over-year increase of 2.7%, but also a one-month dip of 21.1% from November. This is not surprising since December is the slowest month for real estate sales. This will trend upwards with the start of the new year.
Potentially, the outlook for 2025 may be positive for the downtown area with return to work mandates at downtown / South Lake Union companies. People may want to ditch long commutes and live closer to work.
The number of sold / closed condo units increased in December to 178 propertis, reflecting a one-year and one-month increase of 27.1% and 1.7%, respectively.
While the December condo market results may be lackluster, it not unexpected given the cyclical nature of Seattle’s real estate market. With the start of the new year, listings, sales activity and selling prices should increase throughout Spring and into Summer.
For sellers looking to optimize their proceeds and take advantage of the spring market should start considering prepping their condos for sale now.
For buyers, the market will provide more options as listings increase, but there will also be greater competition from other buyers entering the market. It’s now the perfect time to start the process by contacting mortgage loan officers for a pre-approval. Drop us a note and we can help you get started.
Seattle Condo Market Statistics December 2024
Source: Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Some figures were independently compiled by Seattle Condos And Lofts and were not published by the NWMLS.
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