Seattle Region August Home Sales
Seattle-area homes sold at a near-average pace in August but sales fell short of July and a year ago amid a four-year low in the share of homes bought by investors and other absentee buyers. The median sale price fell from a six-year high reached this June and July but rose 3 percent year-over-year - the smallest annual gain in more than two years, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 5,788 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during August in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area encompassing King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. Seattle-area sales fell 5.5 percent from the prior month and fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic DataQuick data.
Seattle-area sales typically rise a bit between July and August, increasing an average of 2.4 percent between those two months since 1994, when CoreLogic DataQuick's complete Seattle-area statistics begin. August marked the second consecutive month and the fifth so far this year to log a year-over-year decline in total sales.
So far this year overall Seattle-area sales are running a bit lower than last year. A total of 39,709 home sold between January and August, down 1.3 percent from the same eight-month period in 2013.
Total August home sales were 0.1 percent below average for all months of August since 1994. Sales of existing (not new) resale condos were 37.7 percent above the August average, while resales of single-family detached houses were 1.3 percent above average and new-home sales were 34.9 percent below average.
Buyers paid a median $335,000 for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the three-county Seattle region in August. That was down 2.9 percent from July's $345,000 and up 3.1 percent from $325,000 in August 2013. The $345,000 median paid in both June and July this year marked the highest level for any month since the median was $345,200 in June 2008.
The August median's 3.1 percent year-over-year gain was the smallest for any month since April 2012, when the region's $274,659 median sale price rose 1.7 percent from April 2011.
August marked the 29th consecutive month in which the Seattle area's median sale price rose on a year-over-year basis. However, the August median was 8.3 percent lower than the region's peak $365,200 median in June 2007. The $345,000 median paid for resale single-family detached houses in August was 12.5 percent below the June 2007 peak of $394,500 for that home-type category. The $248,150 median paid for resale condos in August was 11.4 percent lower than that category's June 2008 peak of $280,000.
In an ongoing trend, the number of homes selling in the higher price ranges rose in August compared with a year earlier, while sales of lower-cost homes fell. The number of sales for less than $200,000 dropped 9.1 percent year-over-year, while August sales below $500,000 fell 5.5 percent. Sales above $500,000 rose 4.7 percent year-over-year, while home sales over $700,000 increased 15.4 percent.
In the Seattle region's multi-million-dollar luxury housing market, sales have trended higher this year. During the first eight months of this year a total of 255 homes sold for $2 million or more, up 48.3 percent from the same period in 2013. Multi-million-dollar sales are identified based on a price or loan amount found in the public record.
Meanwhile, the share of all homes sold to absentee buyers - the combination of investors and vacation-home buyers - fell in August to 14.6 percent, the lowest since absentee buyers accounted for 13.1 percent of all sales in June 2010.
To view other Seattle area August highlights, visit DQNews.com.
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
Source: CoreLogic DataQuick; DQNews.com
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