What Snohomish County ZIP codes have seen biggest jumps in home value?

MILL CREEK — The housing market in Snohomish County continues to be rough for hopeful buyers.

In almost every part of the county, home values are increasing and supply is low. Some neighborhoods are feeling it more than others.

Glenda Krull, a managing broker at Windermere Real Estate in Lynnwood, said the current housing market boils down to a lack of supply. Potential sellers aren’t moving out of their homes, she said.

Of the top five ZIP codes where home values are rising the fastest in the greater Seattle area, two are in Snohomish County, according to an Axios analysis of data from Zillow.

In the past year, home values in Mill Creek, for example, have been on the rise. At the end of March, the average home in the 98012 ZIP code was valued at approximately $1.2 million, according to Zillow. That’s up 8% from March 2023 and is the second-highest growth in the county.

In Snohomish County, the average home is valued at $750,819, a 6.3% increase from last year.

In Everett, the typical home value sits just below $650,000, a 6.7% increase.

It typically only takes six days on the market for a Mill Creek home to have a pending sale, according to Zillow. Nearly half of the homes are sold for more than the original listing price.

So why is Mill Creek at the top of the heap for local desirability?

According to Krull, those who commute in either direction for work find the city appealing for its quiet central location, along with parks, walking trails and amenities.

Homes in Mill Creek with large yards appeal to buyers, she said. In other cities where Krull sells homes, like Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace, the homes are often skinnier, with no yards.

But as interest grows, supply does not.

Mill Creek has nowhere else to grow, and not much ongoing construction, Krull said.

“We still have more buyers than we do sellers,” she said. “And I don’t think that will change significantly for awhile.”

As of last month, interest rates for mortgages sat just over 7%, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Compare that to a national average mortgage rate of 5.3% in 2022, or 2.9% in 2021, a historic low during the pandemic. The high rate constrains the purchasing power of buyers and discourages sellers from reentering the market, the agency said in a news release this week.

“A lot of buyers are taking themselves off the market right now because interest rates aren’t favorable to them,” Krull said.

Still, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported a 10% increase in the number of sales closed across Washington.

“The increase in year-over-year sales transactions signals that buyers and sellers are beginning to adjust to the higher interest rate environment,” said Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, in a press release.

If mortgage rates suddenly drop, Krull said she expects even more movement in the housing market with more supply opening up.

On the other side of the county, homes are also increasing in value.

Home values in the 98241 ZIP code, encompassing Darrington, Glacier Peak and some parts of Skagit County, grew more than anywhere else in Snohomish County. While the average home value is much lower, at $426,032, it has seen 9.5% growth in value over the past year, according to Zillow.

In the town of nearly 1,500 people, Darrington has more than 600 housing units, according to 2020 U.S. Census data.

“You get more house for your money over there,” Krull said. “You can certainly get a lot more house in Darrington than you can in Mill Creek.”

Jenelle Baumbach: 360-352-8623; jenelle.baumbach@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jenelleclar.