Seattle Region November Home Sales
Seattle-area home sales fell year-over-year in November for the first time in 29 months as an increase in mid- to high-end transactions and condo resales failed to compensate for an overall drop in sales below $300,000. The median price paid for a home dipped month-to-month again and its gain from a year earlier was the lowest in 17 months, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 4,101 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during November in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area encompassing King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. Seattle-area sales fell 19.4 percent from the prior month and fell 3.1 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
The number of homes sold this November was the lowest for that month since November 2011, when 3,741 homes sold, and was 6.6 percent below the average for all months of November since 1994, when DataQuick's complete Seattle-area statistics begin. Sales of existing (not new) single-family detached houses were 7.3 percent below the historical average for November, while condo resales were 36.8 percent above average and sales of newly built homes were 33.6 percent below the November average.
Although November sales were lower than a year earlier, home sales for all of 2013 are on pace to rise sharply from 2012. Between January and November 2013 Seattle-area home sales totaled 54,424, up 19.2 percent from the same 11-month period in 2012. Condo resales during the January-through-November period saw the sharpest gain from 2012, rising 31.1 percent, while resale houses posted an 18.4 percent year-over-year increase and newly built homes rose 9.6 percent.
In November the region's mid- to high-priced neighborhoods saw sales increase compared with a year earlier, while sales in the lower-priced areas declined. The number of Seattle-area homes sold in November for less than $150,000 dropped 21.1 percent year-over-year, while sub-$300,000 deals fell 10.4 percent. Sales of homes priced above $300,000 rose 8.0 percent, while sales over $700,000 increased 10.7 percent.
Buyers paid a median $315,000 for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the three-county Seattle area in November, which is the lowest the median has been since it was $302,725 in April 2013. The November median fell 1.7 percent from the prior month and increased 8.3 percent from a year earlier. November marked the fourth consecutive month in which the median has fallen slightly from the prior month. The $329,000 median in July is so far the highest median for any month in 2013.
On a year-over-year basis the median has risen for 20 consecutive months. Prior to November these year-over-year increases were double-digit, ranging from 10.4 percent to 16.4 percent, for 14 consecutive months. November's 8.3 percent year-over-year gain is the lowest since the median rose 8.2 percent in June 2012.
The November median was 13.7 percent lower than the Seattle area's peak $365,200 median in June 2007, and it was 31.3 percent higher than the post-peak trough of $240,000 in January 2012. During the housing downturn the median fell 34.3 percent between the peak and the trough, a decline of $125,200.
Sales of distressed properties - the combination of foreclosure resales and short sales - accounted for roughly 27 percent of the Seattle area's resale market in November, up slightly from about 26 percent the prior month and down from around 35 percent a year earlier.
In the Seattle region's luxury home market, sales jumped in 2013. Between January and November this year, 237 homes sold for $2 million or more, up 43.6 percent from the same 11-month period in 2012. Multi-million-dollar sales are identified based on a price or loan amount found in the public record. The month of November ran counter to the overall trend for 2013. November saw 12 multi-million-dollar home sales, down from 29 the month before and 16 a year earlier.
For additional November Seattle home sale data, please visit DQNews.com.
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com
Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.
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