State of the Housing Market

I’m sure many of you have noticed the rising home prices in our area and wondered, “who can afford this?” The housing prices in Seattle continue to rise for a few reasons and we are here to break it down.

Individuals in the tech industry flooding the Seattle area are a major factor. For reference, a software engineer averages $150,000 a year and they are seemingly pushing home prices outside of the affordable range for many. (Norada Real Estate Investments). Another contributing factor, that only aggravates the rising costs, are multiple offers creating those notorious bidding wars we hear about ending in a well over-asking final price.

Additionally, homes are selling extremely fast thus forcing people to make a near split second decision on a high ticket item. Our nation has an average of 30-45 days for a home on the market, our local market’s average is seven days(Seattles mortgage broker). With such quick turnarounds, this puts buyers in the hot seat, raising the competition and leading to waiving inspections, quick closing dates, and higher offers. With limited supply coupled with high demand, prices are noted having raised 17% from 2021. ( Redfin).

The average home price in the US is $374,000 whereas the Washington average home price is $643,000. Statistics to close out 2021 show that nearly half of all the homes sold in our nation have been in a situation of receiving multiple offers. However, in these early months of 2022, demand is beginning to shift to a national decline as mortgage rates are trending back upward to 5%, effectively pushing some to not sell and putting some buyers out of reach of their home buying dreams.(Redfin)

It is amazing to see the difference between the national market and the Puget Sound area’s local market. No wonder Bellevue was deemed the most expensive place to live in our nation!