Another month, another sign that it’s a seller’s market in Snohomish County.
This sign has everything to do with scarcity.
There were 2,129 homes listed on the market for the county in May and that’s an increase over April when 1,937 homes were listed, according to numbers released Thursday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
But it’s far fewer than just a year ago.
In May 2014, 2,542 homes were listed on the market in the county. That means the total number of homes available for buyers dropped 16.3 percent year over year.
And that’s leading to a nearly 10 percent increase in price year over year.
“We’re still in desperate need of inventory,” said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate, in a statement. “The irony is that there are plenty of people who want to sell, but won’t put their home on the market until they can find something new. But they can’t buy something new until there are more homes on the market.”
Overall, the median price for homes in Snohomish County went up to $335,000 in May, an increase of 9.8 percent over May 2014 when the median price was $305,000.
Single-family homes in the county were selling for $350,000 in May, up from $325,000 the year before, or a 7.7 percent increase. Condos were selling for $235,000 in May or an increase of 13.3 percent year over year when condos were selling for a median price of $207,500.
The Northwest Multiple Listing Service showed that there’s a 2.4 month supply of homes for the entire 23 county area, well below the four- to six-month supply that is considered a balanced market. The supply of homes is measured by the amount of time it would take for the current inventory of homes to be sold if no new homes were listed.
The supply is even more limited in Snohomish and King counties. Snohomish has a 1.6 month supply of homes while King County has 1.2 months of supply.
The market in King County is helping boost the markets in surrounding counties, said Frank Wilson, branch managing broker at John L. Scott in Poulsbo, in the statement.
“They have run out of inventory in the Seattle market so now it’s just a matter of how far a buyer needs to drive to find a home that is available and affordable,” Wilson said.
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