Year-over-year in November single-family home prices jumped by double digits across most of Washington state, and among the counties where this occurred, King had the lowest rate of growth.
It's outlying areas of the metro region and "Zoom towns" — scenic locales like Chelan, Pacific County's Long Beach Peninsula and Okanogan County's Methow Valley — where the most robust pricing growth occurred, according to data the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) issued Monday.
Chalk it up to work from home. If you can work from anywhere, why not live some place scenic, less expensive and more laid back than the city?
“People are seeking space and value since they feel working from home may be a feature of their lives into the future,” James Young, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, said in the NWMLS news release.
Prices rose around 37% in both Okanogan and Chelan counties to $258,225 and $559,000, respectively. The median price in Pacific County in Southwest Washington increased more than 51% to $239,000.
In the metro, prices rose about 17% in Pierce to $445,000, 16% in Kitsap to $329,000, 14% in Snohomish to $566,000 and 10.4% in King to $730,500.
Organizers of a recent forum for the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) said the rise of virtual platforms like Zoom has prompted knowledge workers to flock to “Zoom towns.” (PNWER is a public/private nonprofit.)
Year-to-date closed sales in San Juan County, another Zoom town, are up more than 48%.
Limited inventory continues to hamper the market, with all 23 counties in the NWMLS logging double-digit decreases of at least 31%.The number of homes for sale in the four-county metro was 47.5% lower last month compared to the year before.
“With listings down 42.8% (across the NWMLS area), record low interest rates, and demand very high in outer suburban areas, it seems like the perfect price storm has hit,” Young said.
Everything was on its regular season schedule a year ago when the annual winter slowdown was underway. The market was turned upside down after Covid-19 came to Washington state. In March Washington Gov. Jay Inslee shut down the economy, including much of the housing market.
The normal springtime surge in sales activity didn't occur til summer, and the market has been catching up since then. Along with the latest surge in Covid cases last month came another government prohibition on open houses. That occurred mid-month but has had no discernible effect.
The number of closed sales was up in all but four of the 23 counties in the NWMLS. The number rose 22.6% in the four-county metro. Thurston and Kittitas counties saw year-over-year increases of 55 and 61%, respectively.
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One segment where inventory is not so constrained is King's condo market. It's at a record high inventory when looking at the second half of the year, compared to the same periods over the past eight years, according to John Deely, principal managing broker at Coldwell Banker Bain in Seattle.
Seattle has about 61% more condo listings than a year ago, and the Eastside selection is up 36%. Year-over-year condo prices in Seattle rose about 8.7% while prices on the Eastside surged nearly 32%. In South King County, condo prices jumped 24% on shrinking inventory, down by nearly a third.
Eastside pricing was pushed by the closings of new condos at Bosa Development's 21-story One88 tower in Bellevue. Two penthouses sold for over $5.2 million and $5.6 million, according to public records.
