Prices and number of sales increased despite reduced inventory

Published on: February 5, 2024

Northwest MLS, the source for the most current, accurate market listing data in Washington state, today released its Market Snapshot for the month of January 2024.

Market Recap

Real estate market activity has remained slow in accordance with typical seasonal patterns. Interest rates held steady through the month of January to end at 6.69%; at the time of this publication, there was a slight decrease to 6.63%. For the Washington counties covered by the NWMLS, January 2024 saw a 3% increase in closed sales transactions year-over-year, an improvement from December 2023’s year-over-year change in closed sales transactions, which was a decrease of 11%. Overall, the median price for residential homes and condominiums sold in January 2024 was $593,500, up 6.5% when compared to January 2023 ($557,250).

Important takeaways from January’s data:

• The median sales price increased year-over-year 19 out of 26 counties, with the highest median sale prices in King ($760,000), San Juan ($757,000) and Snohomish ($700,000). The three counties with the lowest median priced homes sold were Columbia ($235,000), Pacific ($250,900) and Grays Harbor ($305,000).
• The volume of homes on the market has continued to decline throughout Washington with 15 out of 26 counties seeing a year-over-year decrease. There were 7,084 active listings on the market at the end of January 2024, a decrease of nearly 14% compared to January 2023 (8,220).
• Despite the decrease in available inventory, 13 of the 26 counties in the report experienced an increase in the number of homes sold year-over-year.
• Condominium sales jumped nearly 21% year-over-year, with 492 units sold in January 2024. The median price of condominium sales increased 7% year-over-year from $424,000 in January 2023 to $453,750 in January 2024.

“Seller reluctance has led to a continued decline in year-over-year inventory levels, an overall 14% decrease of active listings on the market,” said Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at The University of Washington. “Encouragingly, year-over-year sales transactions saw a 3% improvement over January 2023. Low levels of for-sale inventory have led to increased competition amongst buyers, producing a nearly 7% year-over-year increase in median home prices across the Washington counties covered by the NWMLS.”