Decreased mortgage rates have yet to influence the market

Published on: April 3, 2024

Northwest MLS, the source for the most current, accurate market listing data in Washington state, today released its Market Snapshot for the month of March 2024.

Market Recap

Interest rates have decreased by 0.15% over the past month to 6.79%, and while the rate decrease is encouraging, it has yet to have a significant impact on prospective buyers’ purchasing power or prospective sellers’ willingness to give up low interest rate mortgages. For the Washington counties covered by NWMLS, March 2024 saw an 11.2% decrease in the number of closed sales year-over-year, although median sales prices have continued to steadily rise with a year-over-year increase of 7.5%.

“Northwestern markets are finally showing signs of thawing,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic. “With new listings picking up the pace from 2023 lows, potential home buyers have more options to choose from.”

“Still, there seems to be more buyers in the market than the available inventory. As a result, home prices continue to rise despite elevated mortgage rates and constrained affordability.”

Important takeaways from March’s data:

• The median sales price of homes increased in 19 out of 26 counties and decreased in 7 counties relative to March 2023. The three counties with the highest median sale prices were King ($850,000), San Juan ($750,000) and Snohomish ($730,000). The three counties with the lowest median sale prices were Pacific ($347,500), Grant ($325,000) and Columbia ($274,000).
• The number of homes on the market increased throughout Washington with 20 out of 26 counties seeing a year-over-year increase. Overall, there was a 1.16% year-over-year increase in active property listings in Washington counties covered by NWMLS.
• Six of the 26 counties included in the report saw an increase in the number of homes sold year-over-year, while 18 counties saw a decrease. Two counties, Ferry and Chelan, saw relatively no change in the number of year-over-year sales.
• Condominium sales dipped slightly in the NWMLS service areas, with 752 units sold in March 2024, which is a year-over-year decrease of slightly more than 1%. The median sale price of condominiums increased more than 5% year-over-year, from $470,000 in March 2023 to $495,000 in March 2024.

“With the 30-year fixed mortgage rate currently at 6.79% as of late March 2024, the purchasing power of prospective buyers remains constrained relative to a few years ago,” said Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at The University of Washington. “However, year-over-year inventory levels continue to increase – approximately 1% – relative to the previous year, and low levels of for-sale inventory continue to foster increased competition amongst buyers, producing nearly a 7.5% year-over-year increase in median home prices across the Washington counties covered by NWMLS.”

Consumer and Broker Activity

NWMLS also provided insights into consumer activities during the month of March 2024:

• The total number of showings scheduled through NWMLS-provided software increased by 4% from February 2024 (106,055 showings) to March 2024 (109,781 showings).
• Keyboxes located at listed properties were accessed 148,536 times in March 2024, a 23% increase from activity in February 2024 when they were accessed 120,303 times.
• Brokers seeking to further assist consumers as they navigate the market are making special note of properties that are eligible for the Down Payment Resource (DPR) program offered by NWMLS. In March 2024, there were 11,513 listed properties that were eligible for this program.