When up is still down The slow start to 2023 continued in February as rising sales counts failed to reach the 3,000 threshold for the 8th consecutive month in King County. Depressed sales combined with low inventory, have created market conditions favoring sellers.
Inventory was down across both housing types as condominium listings were 8% down month-over-month, whereas residential listings were 13% down. The combination of depressed sales count and inventory have yielded conditions strongly favoring sellers. The overall market has a months-of-inventory (MOI) of 1.8 (anything below four is considered a sellers’ market). The condominium market reported a MOI of 1.7, with the residential market following closely behind with a MOI of 1.3. With continued inflationary pressures, the current Federal funds rate lies in the range of 4.50%-4.75%, with another potential rate hike looming. As such, this might further diminish consumers’ willingness to borrow and participate in the housing market and extend this muted market activity into March.
King County’s housing market, which has been experiencing sluggish sales counts of late, continued its trend into February in spite of a sizable increase in sales over January. Low sales counts combined with constrained inventory, high interest rates, and economic uncertainty make this pattern unlikely to change significantly in the near term. There were 1,576 sales in King County in February, which was up 47% from January 2023 and exceeded the typical January- to-February increase of 13%. Despite this increase in sales counts, however, February sales were still 18% lower than last year and 21% lower than the past 10-year average. Further, it was the lowest sales count for any February going to 2011. It was also the eighth consecutive month that the sales count failed to reach the 3000-mark, and the fourth consecutive month that they failed to reach the 2,000-mark.
The month-over-month increases were felt by both housing types as condominium sales (at 363) were up 63%, and residential sales (at 1,146) were up 45%. However, both housing types were lower year-over-year — condominium sales were lower by 35%, and residential sales were 9% lower. The early part of the year is typically characterized by an increase in listings, including an average increase of 2% between January and February. This year, however, total listings declined 9% in February to 2,772. Last month’s listings count was also 33% below the past decade-average of 4,123, and it was the third-lowest total inventory for February in the last 10 years. And while last month’s listing count was 69% higher than that of last year, it should be noted that February 2022 was the all-time lowest listings for any February since 2008 (the data goes back to 2006).
Copyright © 2023 rennie group of companies. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the rennie group of companies. Current as of March14, 2023. All data from Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley & Rennie. While the information and data contained herein has been obtained from sources deemed reliable, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. rennie group of companies does not assume responsibility or liability for any inaccuracies. The recipient of the information should take steps as the recipient may deem necessary to verify the information prior to placing any reliance upon the information. The information contained within this report should not be used as an opinion of value, such opinions should and can be obtained from a rennie and associates advisor. All information is subject to change and any property may be withdrawn from the market at any time without notice or obligation to the recipient from rennie group of companies. E.&O.E. 3
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