What to Expect from Seattle’s Eastside Housing Market in 2020

Summary: What is Seattle’s Eastside area supposed to look like further into 2020? This article will outline forecasts for the local market going forward.

The real estate market in Seattle’s Eastside is finally cooling down, after a years-long stretch of rapid price growth. Here’s a look ahead at housing market trends and forecasts for Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, and other cities that make up the Eastside.

‘Eastside’ Housing Market Defined

Before we look at the latest real estate trends, we should define some geography. What is Seattle’s “Eastside,” exactly?

This is a common term for cities that fall within the Seattle metro area, but are located to the east of Lake Washington. Primarily, this includes the cities of Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah, Newcastle, and Mercer Island.

Inventory of Available Homes in 2020

The number of homes for sale increased in 2019 in Seattle’s Eastside compared to 2018, but the higher sales rate throughout the year led to far fewer homes on the market by the time 2019 came to a close compared to the same time a year earlier. That said, inventory has been very tight in Seattle’s Eastside so far in 2020.

While housing market conditions can vary from one area to the next, all of these cities shared some things in common as of May 2020:

• On average, home prices in most Eastside markets are slightly higher today than they were a year ago. From mid-2018 to mid-2019, house values dipped slightly throughout the Seattle metro area. But prices have picked up since then and have increased. As of May 2020, the price in Seattle is $767,900.
• Prices are expected to remain stagnant throughout the rest of as a result of uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic 2020.

Bellevue and Sammamish are two of the most expensive real estate markets in the Eastside, and across the broader Seattle metro area. As of May 2020, the median home value in both of these cities was in the upper $900,000’s. In comparison, the median price in nearby Seattle was around $767,900 during that same month.

But Mercer Island tops them all, and is something of an anomaly. The median price in that real estate market was about $1,664,000 as of May.

The median home values in Issaquah and Kirkland were both somewhere around the upper $700,000’s as of May 2020. That makes them comparable with Seattle itself, in terms of pricing.

As far as forecasts go, it’s kind of a mixed bag. Most housing reports and forecasts (at least those that we have read) suggest that the Eastside real estate market will experience some stagnation in 2020.

Today’s Seattle Mortgage Rates Aug, 07, Fri, 2020

Buyers Can Benefit From More Affordable Mortgages in 2020

Thanks to incredibly low mortgage rates these days, home buyers within the Eastside real estate market are able to obtain more affordable mortgages.

Mortgage rates have been on a steady decline since late 2018, and they continue to dip. In fact, interest rates have dipped to all-time lows just recently. Today, the rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage sits at 3.28%.

The bottom line is that it’s a different housing market today than in recent years. In 2020, Eastside home buyers could benefit from much lower mortgage interest rates today. But the current health crisis is having an impact on the real estate market, causing some uncertainty about where the market will be over the coming months throughout 2020.

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Have Questions About Mortgages in Seattle?

If you are curious about mortgage sin Seattle or are considering applying for one, we have the answers for you. Sammamish Mortgage is a local, family-owned company based in Bellevue, Washington. We serve the entire state, as well as the broader Pacific Northwest region and offer may mortgage programs for our clients. Please contact us if you have mortgage-related questions.