Northwest Multiple Listing Service members notched a record high level of pending sales during April, surpassing the year-ago volume by nearly 1,800 transactions. Both closed sales and prices also surged last month as the spring market kicked into high gear.
Buyer confidence and buyer ability to purchase are fueling activity and long building pent-up demand is being unleashed in the Pacific Northwest, reaching a peak in Seattle real estate and homes for sale.
MLS members reported an 18.7 percent year-over-year increase in pending sales, with the volume of mutually accepted offers rising from 9,590 transactions to 11,384. For the four-county Puget Sound region members logged 8,671 pending sales to top the 8,000 mark for only the second time in the past 16 years.
Closed sales and prices also
accelerated, according to Northwest MLS statistics. Across the 23 counties
covered by the report there were 7,696 closed sales. That total represents a
24.3 percent increase from the year-ago volume of 6,190 closings. Within the
four county region, Pierce County experienced a jump of nearly 38 percent in
closed sales compared to a year ago, followed by Snohomish County with a 35
percent increase, prompting one MLS director to comment, "That is super
amazing."
"We are still very clearly in the midst of a seller's market
and unless we see a significant increase in listings, it will remain that way
for the foreseeable future," remarked OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real
Estate. Jacobi and other brokers reiterated the dire need for listings.
Want to sell your home and need an idea of what it's worth? Give Marlow Harris a call at 206-329-3795.