Nearly $64B In WA Home Sales Last Year, Despite Slowing Market

KIRKLAND, WA — House and condo sales tumbled nearly 22 percent across Washington last year, making for the lowest total since 2014, according to real estate brokers. The Kirkland-based Northwest Multiple Listing Service released its annual recap report this week, including data from more than 34,000 brokers working in 26 counties.

Despite a slower year, and a continued cooling trend, brokers reported more than 84,000 sales valued at nearly $64 billion. Single-family homes accounted for roughly 87 percent of sales, with condos making up the remaining 13 percent.

Brokers reported 23,317 fewer sales than in 2021 — a year that topped 100,000 sales for the first time on record, netting $75 billion.

While activity slowed, prices continued to rise. The NWMLS found the statewide median price reached $615,000, up nearly 9 percent. Single-family homes were 8.1 percent more expensive, and condos cost 11.3 percent more. Prices also varied significantly between regions.

Real estate experts pointed to a few factors influencing the slowdown, including a steady rise in 30-year fixed mortgage rates, peaking above 7 percent in November. Bloomberg said higher borrowing costs, growing economic uncertainty and the Federal Reserve's approach to cooling inflation likely "sidelined" many potential buyers.

Prices rose in all but one of the 26 counties monitored by the NWMLS, with 14 seeing double-digit growth over 2022. Realtors said just 29 percent of all buyers paid less than $500,000 for a home in King County. About one in five of every sale last year cost buyers at least $1 million, including nearly 36 percent of King County purchases.

The median price for a King County home peaked near $1 million in May and ended the year at $825,000 in December. The Eastside accounted for more than half of high-end property sales, with more than 4,700 homes sold valued at $1 million or higher.

Even amid a cooling market, brokers sold 136 homes for $5 million or more. The property that fetched the highest price of the year, at $23 million, was a waterfront home on Medina's Gold Coast, the NWMLS said. The most expensive condo, a penthouse in downtown Seattle, sold for $7.15 million.