Real Estate

Home Sellers Are Turning Huge Profits In The Seattle Metro

The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area logged one of the highest profit margins among U.S. metro areas considered.

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2021-12-08

Home values are rising at historic rates in the United States. The median home price hit an all time high of $310,500 in the third quarter of 2021, 16% higher than it was the same period the previous year, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate and property data provider.

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Surging home values are partially a product of growing demand, which is fueled in part by low mortgage rates. These conditions have created a seller’s market unlike anything seen in recent memory. Nationwide, the profit margin — the change between purchase and resale prices — on median-priced single-family homes sold in the third quarter was 47.6%, equivalent to a profit of $100,178. In many cities across the country, third quarter profit margins eclipsed the national median by a wide margin.

In the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area, located in Washington, the typical home sale in the third quarter of 2021 generated a 72.8% profit for the seller — the seventh highest profit margin among U.S. metro areas considered. In dollar terms, the typical area home sold for $267,500 more than it was purchased for.

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As is the case nationwide, the area’s high profit margins have been fueled by a historic surge in home values. The typical home in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area sold for $637,100 in the third quarter of 2021, up 0.3% from the median sale price of $635,000 the previous quarter and up 18% from the median sale price of $540,000 in the third quarter of 2020.

All data in this story was provided by ATTOM Data Solutions. All U.S. metro areas with populations of at least 200,000 and at least 1,000 single-family home and condo sales in Q3 2021 were considered.

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This story was originally published by 24/7 Wall St., a news organization that produces real-time business commentary and data-driven reporting for state and local markets across the country.