The Seattle condo market continues to show lower levels of inventory and lower median prices than 2010.
For the month of October, we had 137 homes closed, an increase of 10.48% from October 2010 and at the same level of closing versus last month. Condo inventory dipped by 8% from the previous month and 32.47% from twelve months ago. There was only 911 homes on the market. This is the lowest level of inventory listed on the NWMLS we have ever seen since February 2007.
Year-over-year pending sales shot up by 56.30% with 211 homes under contract (not closed yet) last month. The median price for October's closed sales was at $226,000, down by 9.60% from a year ago. Comparing that with the previous month, it was down by ~6%. Seventy five percent of the homes sold last month were under $400,000. Bank owned and short sales accounted for ~35% of the sales.
The absorption rate for Seattle condos showed slight improvement from the previous month. We had about 6.6 months of inventory on the market based on closed sales and 4.3 months based on pending sales. Last month it was at 7.1 and 4.9 months respectively. A 6 month absorption rate indicates a neutral market so we are in that range now.
Overall, we still have pretty consistent sales, although most of the sales are occurring in the lower price ranges. Short sales and bank owned condos also account for some price pressure on the condo value. Moving towards the end of the year with holidays around the corner, we can expect fewer condos coming on the market, fewer sales and most likely lower prices.
By Wendy Leung with Seattle Condo Review. A guide to Seattle condos exclusively for buyers and sellers.
Apparently, short sales put great pressure on the sale price. Despite the pessimistic expectation of the economics, is there any other reasons for lower prices, more short sales and fewer listing houses?