Seattle single-family August market report: median price staying below the all-time high

The numbers for what the Seattle single-family and townhome real estate market did in August are out.

The headline is that the median price of $865,000 is below the May all-time high of $893,500. The Seattle Times made a big deal out of this, but for the last few years, we typically see the median price for the year peak in the spring and then cool off in the back half of the year so I don’t find this too surprising. In terms of pricing, it is better to be a buyer in the fall, though you have less selection. As for sellers, you’ll get the most money in the spring.

In term of dollars per square foot, it is trending similar to the median price.

Surprisingly for August, homes moved quickly. Typically you’d expect buyers to be on vacation and things to move slower, but not this August. Many buyers were eager to find a place.

The number of homes that went under contract in August, while less than the peak for the year, is still a lot compared to past months in other years.

In August we saw a big decline in new listings. Again, not a surprise. Many buyers are presumably on vacation so listing agents advise sellers to wait until September to list. Though the homes we toured in August almost all seemed to sell quickly and with multiple offers. Buyers were still active.

At the end of August, there were 662 homes for sale. Definitely more than other crazy years like 2016 and 2017 but it still doesn’t feel like a lot of selection for buyers.

Months of supply is a measure of how long it’d take to sell all the homes for sale. Not surprisingly that number is low – it’d take less than a month to sell all the homes for sale. But it feels like months of supply is going to increase.