Single-family October market report: record # of sales, median price near all-time high

The numbers for what the Seattle estate market did in October are out and it is unlike any October we’ve seen thanks to covid. As folks re-think their living situations many are deciding to buy and sell. As a result, due to so many new listings in August and September we set both a yearly and an all-time record for the number of closed sales at 982. (Typically we set yearly records in June, not October.) Though we expect this to be the peak for the year and we’ll see the number of closings decline for November, December and January.

Meanwhile, the median price of a single-family home and townhome stayed the same as September at $799,000. This is slightly off the all-time peak from August’s $815,000 and roughly the same as the last market high in 2018 of $802,000. Though dollars per square foot declined.

The number of new listings declined to 1,149 as the real estate market slows down for fall and winter. Though it was well above last October’s 818 new listings since we saw sellers who would have listed this spring/summer delay their plans due to covid. As well we saw sellers who likely wouldn’t have sold, but are selling now due to covid causing them to re-think their living arrangements. New listings will continue to decline in November and again in December.

The number of homes for sale in October was 1,158 less than last October’s 1,237 and many of those new listings quickly went pending. We expect that new inventory will continue to decline for November and December giving buyers less choice which will help the sellers whose homes haven’t sold quickly.

Anyone shopping for a single-family home knows the market is hot right now and the data confirms it, median days on market is still only 7 days. That will likely increase slightly over November and December.

Buyers were busy in October as we saw 952 pending listings which is a lot for an October. Last October there were 746.