Seattle housing market recovery in progress

Despite what the national media report about the U.S. housing market as a whole, our regional market seems to be performing well. In fact, some areas of our local real estate market appear to be trending toward favoring sellers.

Vital to measuring the pulse of any housing market is to gauge the months of inventory. This figure is determined by dividing the current number of active listings (by community, area or price range) by the number of pending sales within a specific timeframe. This figure is a guide to how many months it will take to sell off all current inventory.

The following graph shows the months of inventory for Seattle single family homes between 1,000-4,000 square feet in size on a monthly basis from March 2010 through May 2011:

The amount of inventory which indicates a balanced market between buyers and sellers is six months. Below six months of inventory, the market favors sellers. Above six months, the market favors buyers.

For more information about how your neighborhood housing market is performing, give us a call (866) 766-7325.