Market Statistics for RE Magazine for Q1 2024
Provided by Runstad Department of Real Estate
Washington state’s housing market was weaker in the first quarter of 2024, with sales and new building permits falling compared with the first quarter of 2023. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing home sales fell 21.5% from the first quarter of 2023, from 99,350 to 77,990. This means that if the quarter’s pace continued unchanged for a year, that number of homes would be sold. In the first quarter of 2024, a total of 9,229 residential building permits were recorded, down 6.4% from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the statewide median sales price for a single-family home rose to $626,100 in the first quarter, 9.3% higher than one year earlier. Home prices rose in all but eight counties. Given the variety of locations and market diversity in the state, median housing prices are highly variable, ranging from $224,800 in Lincoln County to $931,000 in King County.
The combination of lower transaction volume and higher prices is attributable primarily to high mortgage interest rates. These high rates continued to discourage potential sellers with low-rate mortgages from putting their houses on the market while also causing affordability problems for potential buyers needing mortgages. Studies have shown that a large proportion of current homeowners with mortgages have relatively low rates.
Housing affordability fell from the previous year. That index—where 100 means a middle-income family can just qualify for a median-priced home, given a 20% down payment and a 30-year fixed mortgage at prevailing rates—was 63.1, down from 65.4 in the first quarter of 2023. This metric suggests that, given the same down payment and mortgage, a middle-income family had only 63.1% of the income required to purchase a home selling at the median. Affordability for a first-time buyer was even worse, with the hypothetical buyer having only 45.1% of the income needed to purchase a starter home. Housing affordability varied widely across the state. The least affordable county is San Juan County, with Columbia County the most affordable. Thirty-eight of the state’s 39 counties presented affordability issues for first-time buyers.
Runstad Department of Real Estate
University of Washington
wcrer@uw.edu
Washington state’s housing market was weaker in the first quarter of 2024, with sales and new building permits falling compared with the first quarter of 2023. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing home sales fell 21.5% from the first quarter of 2023, from 99,350 to 77,990. This means that if the quarter’s pace continued unchanged for a year, that number of homes would be sold. In the first quarter of 2024, a total of 9,229 residential building permits were recorded, down 6.4% from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the statewide median sales price for a single-family home rose to $626,100 in the first quarter, 9.3% higher than one year earlier. Home prices rose in all but eight counties. Given the variety of locations and market diversity in the state, median housing prices are highly variable, ranging from $224,800 in Lincoln County to $931,000 in King County.
The combination of lower transaction volume and higher prices is attributable primarily to high mortgage interest rates. These high rates continued to discourage potential sellers with low-rate mortgages from putting their houses on the market while also causing affordability problems for potential buyers needing mortgages. Studies have shown that a large proportion of current homeowners with mortgages have relatively low rates.
Housing affordability fell from the previous year. That index—where 100 means a middle-income family can just qualify for a median-priced home, given a 20% down payment and a 30-year fixed mortgage at prevailing rates—was 63.1, down from 65.4 in the first quarter of 2023. This metric suggests that, given the same down payment and mortgage, a middle-income family had only 63.1% of the income required to purchase a home selling at the median. Affordability for a first-time buyer was even worse, with the hypothetical buyer having only 45.1% of the income needed to purchase a starter home. Housing affordability varied widely across the state. The least affordable county is San Juan County, with Columbia County the most affordable. Thirty-eight of the state’s 39 counties presented affordability issues for first-time buyers.
Runstad Department of Real Estate
University of Washington
wcrer@uw.edu