Market Update | March 2024
Decreased Mortgage Rates Have yet to Influence the Market
Published on: April 3, 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 March 2024.
Market Recap
Interest rates have decreased by 0.15% over the past month to 6.79%, and while the rate decrease is encouraging, it has yet to have a significant impact on prospective buyers’ purchasing power or prospective sellers’ willingness to give up low interest rate mortgages. For the Washington counties covered by NWMLS, March 2024 saw an 11.2% decrease in the number of closed sales year-over-year, although median sales prices have continued to steadily rise with a year-over-year increase of 7.5%.
“Northwestern markets are finally showing signs of thawing,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic. “With new listings picking up the pace from 2023 lows, potential home buyers have more options to choose from.”
“Still, there seems to be more buyers in the market than the available inventory. As a result, home prices continue to rise despite elevated mortgage rates and constrained affordability.”
Important takeaways from March’s data:
The median sales price of homes increased in 19 out of 26 counties and decreased in 7 counties relative to March 2023. The three counties with the highest median sale prices were King ($850,000), San Juan ($750,000) and Snohomish ($730,000). The three counties with the lowest median sale prices were Pacific ($347,500), Grant ($325,000) and Columbia ($274,000).
The number of homes on the market increased throughout Washington with 20 out of 26 counties seeing a year-over-year increase. Overall, there was a 1.16% year-over-year increase in active property listings in Washington counties covered by NWMLS.
Six of the 26 counties included in the report saw an increase in the number of homes sold year-over-year, while 18 counties saw a decrease. Two counties, Ferry and Chelan, saw relatively no change in the number of year-over-year sales.
Condominium sales dipped slightly in the NWMLS service areas, with 752 units sold in March 2024, which is a year-over-year decrease of slightly more than 1%. The median sale price of condominiums increased more than 5% year-over-year, from $470,000 in March 2023 to $495,000 in March 2024.
“With the 30-year fixed mortgage rate currently at 6.79% as of late March 2024, the purchasing power of prospective buyers remains constrained relative to a few years ago,” said Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at The University of Washington. “However, year-over-year inventory levels continue to increase – approximately 1% – relative to the previous year, and low levels of for-sale inventory continue to foster increased competition amongst buyers, producing nearly a 7.5% year-over-year increase in median home prices across the Washington counties covered by NWMLS.”
Active Listings
There were 8,100 active listings on the market at the end of March 2024, a slight increase of 1.2% when compared to March 2023 (8,007). Although the overall number of homes on the market increased, active inventory decreased in 6 counties, including Adams (-29.17%), Snohomish (-23.15%), Whatcom (-16.82%), Clallam (-10.24%), King (-6.8%), and Kitsap (-4.86%).
Year Over Year Active Listings
Island, King and Snohomish County
New Listings
NWMLS brokers added 8,028 new listings to the database in March 2024, a slight increase of 1.6% compared to March 2023, when 7,904 new listings were added.
Pending Sales
There were 7,218 total residential units & condo units under contract in March 2024, a slight increase of around 1% when compared to March 2023 (7,136). Despite the slight overall increase, there were 6 counties that had more than a 6% year-over-year increase in the number of pending sales, including Okanogan (+29.41%), Clallam (+17.65%), Snohomish (+11.57%), King (+8.25%), Clark, (+8.22%), Lewis (+6.8%), and Adams (+6.67%).
Closed Sales
March 2024 saw an 11.2% decrease in the number of closed sales transactions year-over-year. The total dollar value of closed sales for residential homes for this month was $3,685,299,238 and was $461,759,636 for condominiums.
Months of Inventory
A balanced market is considered to be 4 to 6 months by most industry experts. At the current rate of sales, it would take less than two months to sell every home that is active in the NWMLS inventory. The four counties with the lowest months of inventory in March 2024 were Snohomish (0.8), King (1.23), Pierce (1.39), and Kitsap (1.41).
Year Over Year Months of Inventory
Island, King, and Snohomish County
Median Price
Overall, the median price for residential homes and condominiums sold in March 2024 was $633,717, up 7.4% when compared to March 2023 ($590,000). The median sales price increased year-over-year in 19 of the 26 counties, with the highest median sales prices in King ($850,000), San Juan ($750,000), and Snohomish ($730,000) counties. The three counties with the lowest median priced homes sold were Pacific ($347,500), Grant ($325,000), and Columbia ($274,000).
