April Eastside single-family market report: median sales price drops 4%
The most surprising number out of the Eastside’s single-family home market in April is that median sales price actually decreased. Dropping 4% month-over-month to $1,352,500, this is still up a whopping 35% year-over-year and 42% compared to April 2019. The drop in median sales price is small consolation as homes still got more expensive as measured by median price per square foot. Price per square foot increased to $531, an increase of just 1% over March but 31% year-over-year.
804 new listings came on the market in April, a 7% increase month-over-month. This also breaks a four year trend of seeing a slight dip in new listings from March to April. This was not enough listings to taper off demand at all however. Competition for homes continued to increase, driving the median percent of last list price to yet another new high of 112%.
Given the competition for single-family homes, buyers have to be quick to get in to see properties. April matched March’s all-time low of days on market at five days. 81% of all homes put under contract in April were on the market for less than a week! If you’re planning your touring schedule, plan on new listings hitting the market on Wednesday or Thursday with an offer review date of Monday or Tuesday generally.
The single-family buying frenzy caught up to Eastside buyers in April as homes put under contract dropped 4% month-over-month. School breaks through out the month are the likely culprit for putting home buying on the back-burner for some. Buyer fatigue is also not out of the question given the fierce competition. Historically, May is the peak month to get a home under contract on the Eastside… we’ll see if that holds up this year.
April ended with 270 single-family homes still for sale. While this is an increase of 38% month-over-month, this sharply highlights the lack of inventory. Going back to 2019, there were 1,090 single-family homes still for sale at the end of April!
It’s getting increasingly harder to predict what’s going to happen each month. In past years, May has been the peak month for new listings and homes being put under contract. Sellers, we need you! If you’re wondering if buyers are going to be wading into the market, mortgage rates have been below 3% for three weeks running. As the economy continues to improve, buyers are likely to capitalize on low rates while they can.
