We have some new information regarding the last month of 2024 for Real Estate in Western Washington.
In spite of news that the Federal Reserve was lowering interest rates, it did not translate to lower mortgage rates for home buyers. Comparing to December 2023, the December 2024 home prices have slightly increased to match with the average interest rates. Despite the increase in price and plateau of mortgage rates, we did see a 25% increase in transactions closing. Although there are concerns about affordability, the market is still moving towards stability.
Information and statistics derived from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
December 2024 Key Takeaways
Active Listings
- The number of homes for sale increased 25% year-over-year throughout the NWMLS coverage area, with 21 out of 26 counties seeing a double-digit increase compared to December 2023.
- The five counties with the highest increases in active inventory for sale were Snohomish (+46.1%), Douglas (+43.3%), Cowlitz (40.8%), Grant (+39.9%) and Skagit (+38.2%).
Closed Sales
- There were 4,812 closed sales of residential homes and condominium units, an increase of 19.8% when compared to December 2023 (4,018).
- The total dollar value of closed sales in December 2024 for residential homes was $3,284,574,394 and $409,740,278 for condominiums ($3,694,314,671 in total), an increase of 24.8% when compared to December 2023.
Median Sales Price
- The median price for residential homes and condominiums increased by 4.3% year-over-year from $597,975 in December 2023 to $623,500 in December 2024. Prices decreased month-over-month by 3.33% when compared to November 2024 ($645,000).
- The three counties with the highest median sale prices were San Juan ($849,500), King ($800,000), and Snohomish ($744,995), and the three counties with the lowest median sale prices were Ferry ($125,000), Adams ($292,300) and Pacific ($320,000).
Consumer and Broker Activity
NWMLS also provided insights into consumer activities during the month of December 2024:
- Keyboxes located at listed properties were accessed 82,655 times in December 2024, a 26% decrease in activity from November 2024 when they were accessed 111,482 times. Keybox activity increased by 3% year-over-year, with keyboxes being accessed 80,117 times in December 2023.
- The total number of property showings scheduled through NWMLS-provided software decreased 25% from 84,997 in November 2024 to 63,610 in December 2024. This was a year-over-year increase of 6% from the number of showings in December 2023 (60,062).
- In December 2024, there were 11,382 listed properties that were eligible for the Down Payment Resource (DPR) program offered by NWMLS, a 17% year-over-year increase from December 2023.