What goes up must come down. That seems to be the motto of the U.S. housing market right now, with some of the nation’s most expensive and popular cities cooling rapidly, according to a Redfin report Wednesday.
No market embodies that trend more than Seattle.
The city’s real estate sector is cooling faster than the 100 most populous metropolitan areas in the report, which ranked the cities and their slowdown in prices, depreciation, supply, pending sales, sales-to-listing ratio and home sales pace. From February to August.
Rising mortgage rates, inflation, a stock market selloff and widespread economic uncertainty are all affecting the residential real estate sector in the Emerald City, with homebuyer demand and competitive measures intensifying.
Approximately 34% fewer homes sold in August than two weeks ago a year ago. A typical house sells for 5% per square foot in August a year ago; And home prices are falling from their highs, with the average home selling 2% earlier than a month ago in August, according to Redfin.
“Many sellers can’t get the price they want because buyers don’t want to compete with other offers when mortgage rates are double what they were a year ago,” Seattle Redfin agent David Palmer said in the report. “This means there are fewer sellers listing their homes and fewer buyers making offers on what’s on the market.”
The average monthly mortgage payment on a $775,000 home in Seattle is more than $4,400 with current 6% mortgage rates, up from about $3,300 with 3% rates at the beginning of the year.
The rest of the 10 fastest growing cold markets all have a lot in common with Seattle.
All because either “West Coast markets have been expensive for a long time” or because “more expensive areas during the pandemic have caused many homebuyers to relocate,” the report said.
Las Vegas ranks as the second fastest growing cooling market. It was followed by San Jose, California; San Diego and Sacramento, California.
Denver; the phoenix Oakland, California; North Port, Florida; and Tacoma, Washington, round out the top 10.
“These are all areas where homebuyers are feeling the pressure of rising house prices, higher mortgage rates and inflation. Darryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, said in the report that many are paying off in part.
“The good news is that the slowdown is weakening competition and giving those who still can afford it more bargaining power,” she added.