Seattle Condo Prices Increase 11.3% in May
Redfin today released new data on the Seattle Area market showing that for the city of Seattle condo prices increased 11.3% in May to $295,000, but were still down 4.8% year over year. Sales volume increased 10.6% to 240 sales from April to May, and 25.7% year over year.
Inventory Down 12.8% Month over Month
In May the number of condos for sale in Seattle declined 12.8% to 1,610 from 1,786 in April, inventory is also down 5.3% year over year.
Here’s the number of condos for sale in May by neighborhood.
| # For Sale May ’10 | Mo/Mo Change | # For Sale May ’09 | Yr/Yr Change | |
| Ballard | 73 | -17.9% | 73 | 0.0% |
| Belltown | 186 | -27.1% | 231 | -19.5% |
| Capitol Hill | 182 | -5.3% | 206 | -11.7% |
| Central District | 45 | -16.3% | 35 | 28.6% |
| Downtown | 454 | -19.8% | 517 | -12.2% |
| First Hill | 70 | -13.2% | 67 | 4.5% |
| Fremont | 34 | -19.7% | 30 | 13.3% |
| Queen Anne | 214 | -4.6% | 203 | 5.4% |
| South Lake Union | 29 | -22.0% | 20 | 45.0% |
| West Seattle | 156 | 0.6% | 177 | -11.9% |
Sales Volume Up 10.6% Month over Month
Driven by the federal tax credit, May sales volume in Seattle neighborhoods generally increased with the exception of Fremont and Queen Anne.
Here’s the # of condos bought in May 2010 by neighborhood. Instead of showing the month over month increase which is skewed by the number of weekdays in May we’re showing the weekday rate of change for a better comparison in sales volume:
| # Sold May ’10 | Mo/Mo Weekday Rate Change | # Sold May ’09 | Yr/Yr Change | |
| Ballard | 14 | 109.5% | 14 | 0.0% |
| Belltown | 31 | 35.3% | 16 | 93.8% |
| Capitol Hill | 28 | 12.8% | 24 | 16.7% |
| Central District | 6 | 25.7% | 7 | -14.3% |
| Downtown | 66 | 30.5% | 47 | 40.4% |
| First Hill | 9 | 371.4% | 4 | 125% |
| Fremont | 5 | -34.5% | 5 | 0.0% |
| Queen Anne | 24 | -10.2% | 30 | -20.0% |
| South Lake Union | 10 | 16.4% | 2 | 400% |
| West Seattle | 27 | 117.6% | 11 | 145.5% |
Median Prices Increase 11.3% to $295,000
Not only did sales increase in May but the median price of condos did as well with the exception of Downtown and Queen Anne:
| May ’10 | Mo/Mo Change | May ’09 | Yr/Yr Change | $/Sq. Ft. | |
| Ballard | $272,500 | 12.1% | $317,450 | -14.2% | $312 |
| Belltown | $399,000 | 2.8% | $382,000 | 4.5% | $463 |
| Capitol Hill | $302,000 | 20.9% | $289,975 | 4.1% | $370 |
| Central District | $357,250 | 66.2% | $420,000 | -14.9% | $296 |
| Downtown | $361,650 | -2.3% | $428,000 | -15.5% | $430 |
| First Hill | $289,000 | 101.7% | $303,000 | -4.6% | $336 |
| Fremont | $261,500 | 14.9% | $294,000 | -11.1% | $294 |
| Queen Anne | $247,500 | -16.8% | $326,750 | -24.3% | $348 |
| South Lake Union | $296,250 | 6.0% | $345,000 | -14.1% | $369 |
| West Seattle | $337,500 | 34.1% | $240,000 | 40.6% | $312 |
For more color on sales in May check out our weekly series of recent sale posts.
What Does the Future Hold?
I suspect we’ll see activity decline in June since the bump in sales inventory last month was likely largely driven by the tax credit. However, inventory will increase as more people list their condo before summertime. Prices will remain flat.
What Do You Think?
Have you been shopping for a condo recently? What do you think of what’s available for sale? Made any offers? How did those go?
Redfin has a spreadsheet available if you want to dig into the data for for a neighborhood or city not included here (or for single-family home data.)
Disclaimer: I work at Redfin at running the marketing department. This is one of the projects I work on.
Love reading Urban Living? Join us in raising money to fight cancer. We’ve raised $1,345 so far. Deadline is tomorrow!
