Seattle weekly wrap-up: new listings bounce back after slowdown

New listings bounced back after the slowdown leading up to the Memorial Day long weekend. So last week we saw 322 new listings, up 66% week-over-week, making it the second busiest week of the year for new listings. Not surprisingly buyer activity last week was slow – only 152 homes went under contract, down 34% week-over-week. Expect that to rebound this coming week.

We now have three weeks left of prime real estate slowdown before the summer slowdown (which starts the week leading up to the 4th of July long weekend). But will we see a summer slowdown? Typically sellers hold off listing over summer on the theory that buyers are out of town. Given what we’ve seen so far this year it seems like we’ll see a slowdown but it won’t be as pronounced as pre-Covid summer slowdowns.

It continues to be a tale of two markets out there, 20% of the homes move quickly and at a premium – last week a $900k home in Madrona had 9 offers on it, and the $7.7m Newport Shores home we loved went pending in 4 days. While 80% of the homes have been on the market for more than a week – for instance, we helped a client negotiate a $45k discount last week.

The Seattle Times dug into property taxes, King County assessed property values decline as housing market cools, “In Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood, values declined 8% on average this year, compared with an increase of nearly 14% last year. This year’s property values help determine next year’s tax bills.” But don’t necessarily expect big savings next year, “While property values are a factor in determining property tax bills, property taxes don’t rise and fall at the exact rate of property values. Local voter-approved levies, which make up about 40% of property tax bills, are a bigger factor.”

The Seattle Times also had a timely article on Thinking about renting out your Seattle-area house? Read this first. A topic we’ve been discussing with several sellers this year.

So many new listings but the only one to catch our eye is this sexy loft at Monique on Capitol Hill. On Vashon, don’t miss this wild ’78 contemporary waterfront home on Vashon with a pool.