Following up on last week’s newsletter about this “sweet spot” for buyers, the number of homes for sale in Seattle, nearly 2,900 at the end of September, means buyers haven’t had this much selection in over 13 years.

But what about rates? Nearly 20% of those listings are new construction, mostly townhome-style homes, and many of those builders are offering rate buy-downs, some as low as 1.5%.

Prefer something with a little more character? Of the roughly 1,800 resale homes that have been on the market for more than two weeks, plenty of sellers are getting motivated to close before year-end. That means more opportunities for buyer credits, which can help you buy down your rate or offset closing costs.

But how does this jive with our clickbait subject line? Hot midcentury homes break all the rules!

Noteworthy deals last week

• Most expensive pending: Medina estate at $8M
• Highest % over asking sale: Burien midcentury modern for 27% over
• Most expensive sale: Medina home for $5.5M
• Least expensive sale: Northgate condo for $265K
• Most popular Seattle listing on Redfin: Magnolia brick Tudor for $2.3M

Links

• What WA law says about selling a haunted home (Seattle Times)
• Mapping a way out of US housing affordability crisis (Bloomberg)
• Former Microsoft VP lists Medina home for $16.2 million (PSBJ)

New listings by week

Seattle: 286 new listings last week, down 6.2% w-o-w
Eastside: 159 new listings last week, down 18% w-o-w

Homes going pending by week

Seattle: 181 pending last week, down 8.6% w-o-w
Eastside: 105 pending last week, down 23.9% w-o-w

Eye candy

$2.6M Orcas Island modern cabin by Vandervolt Architects

$1.75M Woodridge midcentury modern

$1.645M Fremont modern (already pending!)

$1.5M Burien midcentury modern by Ralph Andserson

Check out last week’s market update, See the home that went 26% over

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