Puget Sound's Housing Market Saw Little Slowdown In November

KIRKLAND, WA — The usual late-year slowdown in real estate activity has been less apparent as Puget Sound rounds out 2021, with demand staying relatively high across Washington through the end of November. The Kirkland-based Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) released its latest report on Monday, finding neither the approaching holidays nor the especially soggy weather did much to quell a red hot housing market.

"The so-called seasonal slowdown normally sees serious buyers gain an advantage over casual buyers who take a break during the holidays," said Mike Larson, the managing broker at Compass in Tacoma. "The difference this year is that there are fewer buyers taking a break and demand remains high."

The NWMLS tracks monthly real estate trends across 26 Washington counties and found nearly 8,600 sales were pending in November. Despite 20 counties adding more new listings than the year before, demand still outpaced supply, and already-low housing inventory continues to create a big challenge for buyers. Five counties ended November with less than two weeks of supply: King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston and Clark.

"The pandemic continues to put pressure on home sales and prices, "said Dean Rebhuhn, owner of Village Homes and Properties. "Historic low inventory is still influencing multiple offer situations in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. Increasing interest rates have not slowed the pace of sales."

In King County, average prices have trended downward since the summer's peak of $789,000 and currently sit around $740,000, according to the NWMLS. However, inventory strains are especially pronounced in Washington's most populous county, with active listings down about 60 percent from the same time last year.

"To put this into further perspective, King County had only 1,149 active listings at the end of November — the lowest inventory I can remember — and a 90% decrease since November 2010 when there were 11,867 active listings," said John Deely, an executive vice president and Coldwell Banker Bain. "This is hampering existing sellers from moving up. Baby boomers finding themselves in large homes and not needing the space, but they are hesitant to sell without a place to go should they want to stay in the region."

Looking ahead to 2022, some brokers respect housing prices will increase at a slower pace than this year's frenzied pace, but buyers should still expect to pay more.

"In fact, I predict single-family prices will increase by around 8% in King and Snohomish counties, and by almost 11% in Pierce County," said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate. "Although still well above the long-term averages, affordability issues and modestly rising interest rates will take some of the steam out of the market in 2022."