Real Estate Market Update - May 2023

Currently, the greater Seattle-Bellevue real estate market is approaching the end of the peak selling season in early June. Thereafter, based on historical, seasonality; the number of properties under contract tends to decrease or stabilize until increasing again in late August through September, and decreasing during the holiday season from October to mid-January.

There has been modest housing price appreciation to date while inventory remains very tight. Many homeowners are choosing not to sell because of higher mortgage interest rates and those that do sell are typically not voluntary (e.g. job transfer, divorce, etc). This is compounding the existing housing shortage in the Puget Sound region. Accordingly, there is a limited number of homes available to meet the high demand from Buyers. Multiple offer situations with no Seller concessions have returned after several months of Buyer respite. Based on these conditions I don’t anticipate home values will significantly decrease in the foreseeable future. Home values bottomed in January 2023 as market pricing adjusted to rates and continues to do so.

On May 3rd, the Federal Reserve announced its 10th-straight interest rate hike. It appears they may pause raising rates in June and, hopefully, we may see a short-term decrease in mortgage interest rates. Currently, the 30-year conventional mortgage interest rate is about 6.75% as of May 23rd. During the last +10 years, we’ve had artificially low interest rates in response to the Great Recession. Now, it appears that 30-year conventional mortgage interest rates are reverting to the average rate or 7.75%, for over 50 years.

I’m here to help you or someone you know achieve their real estate goals.

---