The Buyers are Back. The “January thaw” has hit the market. We’re seeing a surge of activity as buyers from last year restart their searches, joined by a fresh wave of faces at our weekend open houses.

Interestingly, the data shows buyer activity is nearly identical to this time last year, even with mortgage rates sitting roughly 100bps lower. Our advice? Patience is your best friend. If you look at the “New Listings” graph below, you’ll see that inventory historically surges starting in April. While your dream home could pop up any day, you have time to be strategic. Land’s favorite advice to new buyers is to set up a saved search for new listings every week and another for homes that have not been selling (2-4+ weeks on market).

Tip: Don’t wait for the perfect house to find a lender. Get pre-approved now so you can move fast when the “one” hits the market. Hit reply if you need a list of our favorite local lenders.

A Tale of Three Markets For sellers, your experience right now depends entirely on what you’re listing:

• Single-Family Homes: Well-maintained houses remain the “gold standard.” Demand is high, and supply is tight.
• Townhomes: There is a healthy amount of inventory right now. Great news for buyers; a bit more competitive for sellers.
• Condos: It’s a challenging environment. We’ve seen motivated sellers in certain buildings slash prices aggressively, which can drag down the “comps” for the entire building. Pricing strategy has never been more critical here.

Around the Sound But let’s be honest, real estate isn’t the only thing on everyone’s mind this week. We’re all feeling the pain of that I-5 construction, mourning the lack of snow in the mountains, and hoping the Seahawks can keep this momentum going.

Listings that caught our eye last week

• Most expensive pending: Medina modern at $6.5M
• Highest % over asking sale: Whittier Heights craftsman at 17% over
• Most expensive sale: Woodinville new construction for $5.5M
• Most popular Seattle listing on Redfin: Madrona cottage for $1.175M

Must-read real estate news

• Kirkland rezones Juanita sites for housing near Michael’s, Goodwill (PSBJ)
• Seattle traffic congestion worsens, ranks 7th among U.S. cities (Seattle Times)
• Homebuilding giant DR Horton makes another big push into Auburn (PSBJ)
• Downtown Seattle nears pre-pandemic visitor levels in December (PSBJ)
• Delayed mixed-use project in Denny Triangle prepares for signature piece (PSBJ)
• Former Expeditors International CEO sells Tuscany-style estate (PSBJ) (FB Video)
• Boutique condo development advances near Google offices in Kirkland (PSBJ)

Buyers continue to see more listings

Seattle: 281 new listings last week, down 19.6% w-o-w
Eastside: 195 new listings last week, up 14.7% w-o-w

Buyers just as busy as last year at this time

Seattle: 171 pending last week, up 12.5% w-o-w
Eastside: 106 pending last week, down up 11.6% w-o-w

the hottest new listings

$5.2M downtown condo

$2.85M Mercer Island midcentury modern

Check out last week’s market update, 16 offers on Brooklyn Ave… and a jump in rates

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