Washington Real Estate Market Trends: Update

Published:
April 7, 2017
Last updated:
September 30, 2022
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Washington State continues to experience steady home price gains, according to recent reports. 

Certain centers in Washington State, in particular, are seeing very hot housing markets, including Tacoma, Federal Way, and Kent, among others, as a result of low inventory and high demand. These are a few of the Washington State real estate market trends we are tracking, as we head towards 2023.

Washington State Real Estate Market Trends: Late 2022

With the winter home-buying “season” right around the corner, buyers typically are fewer but sellers are motivated. That’s usually what happens this time of year.

What will they find? Limited inventory and higher prices. That said, only time will tell exactly how the WA State housing market will fare.  Those are the prominent trends in the Washington State real estate market right now.

1. Washington State had a large increase in home prices year over year

According to recent data from RedFin, a real estate research company, home prices in Washington statewide were up 5.4% year-over-year in September.  

2. The median home value statewide is now over $600,000

According to the latest data, the median home price for Washington State is now around $616,259, according to Zillow. Of course, it’s much higher in the Seattle metro area, but we’ll get to that in a moment. 

Washington State home prices are higher now than they’ve ever been before, even during the last housing boom. And they were expected to rise throughout 2022 and even into 2023.

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3. Housing inventory in Seattle has fallen sharply over the last few years

Seattle and the surrounding King County is an exaggerated version of the real estate market trends happening across Washington State in 2022. In many cities, limited inventory and strong demand are pushing prices north. And nowhere is this trend more apparent than in Seattle.

In fact, recent data suggests that Seattle’s housing inventory currently has less than a one-month supply. That’s much lower than what is considered to be a balanced market in which there would be 5- to 6-months’ worth of inventory available for sale. And in overall King County, housing inventory only has a .47-month supply.

4. Seattle median home price rises to $960,925

In Seattle, the median home price rose to $960,925 in September 2022, according to Zillow. That was an increase of 11.4% year-over-year. Seattle actually experienced a lull in the market from mid-2018 to mid-2019, but prices picked up since then. At the valley of home prices in July 2019, prices were $742,000, so they came back up quite a bit since then.

5. Mortgage rates are inching up

Washington State real estate market trends have created a sense of urgency among home buyers planning to enter the market.

Along with increasing home prices in Washington, mortgage rates have also been on the rise. According to the latest survey by Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage loan sits at over 6% in September 2022.

Even though rates are increasing, they’re still relatively low. As such, it may still be a great time for buyers to get into the Washington housing market to take advantage of lower rates before home prices rise even more. It’s also a great time for homeowners to refinance their mortgage and lock in at today’s rock-bottom rates.

Stay informed: Do you want to keep up with real estate market trends in Washington State, and across the Pacific Northwest? Subscribe to our blog. It’s free, and it’s a great way to keep yourself up to speed on the latest developments.

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Have Questions About Washington Home Loans?

If you are in need of the assistance of a seasoned mortgage broker, Sammamish Mortgage can help. We are a local, family-owned company based in Bellevue, Washington. We serve the entire state, as well as the broader Pacific Northwest region that includes Idaho, Colorado, and Oregon. We have been offering a wide variety of mortgage programs and products with flexible qualification criteria since 1992, and we’d love to help. Please contact us if you have mortgage-related questions.

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