November Seattle MSA Home Sales and Median Prices

The Seattle region last month posted its first double-digit, year-over-year decline in its median sale price since the housing downturn began. Total home sales dropped to their lowest level for a November in at least 14 years, a real estate information service reported.

In November, the Seattle metro area's overall median sale price fell a record 11.1 percent from a year ago to its lowest point since February 2006. The median price paid per square foot for resale single-family houses dropped 15.8 percent below the year-ago mark to its lowest level since June 2005, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A total of 2,093 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow last month in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area encompassing King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. Sales fell 34.3 percent from October and fell 47.9 percent below November 2007. Last month's sales were the lowest for any November since at least 1994, when DataQuick's complete Seattle-area statistics for all home-type categories begin. Sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 30 consecutive months.

The median price paid for all homes combined last month was $309,000, down 4.6 percent from $324,000 in October and down 11.1 percent from $347,700 in November 2007. Last month's median was 15.4 percent lower than the Seattle area's peak $365,200 median in June 2007.

The median has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 10 straight months.

Another price measure, the median price paid per square foot for resale detached houses, suggests greater price weakness: November's $187 median per square foot fell 15.8 percent from a year ago and stood 22.2 percent below the peak $240 median of July 2007. The price per square foot has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 13 consecutive months.

The Seattle area's price declines, while steepening, remain among the lowest for large metro areas nationally.

Across the West, the median sale price - the point where half of the homes sold for more and half for less - has declined for reasons that go beyond the drop in home values. For example, more of today's sales involve foreclosures, which tend to be concentrated in more affordable neighborhoods and sell at a discount. Also, the August 2007 credit crunch made larger "jumbo" mortgages more expensive and harder to obtain, which has led to slower sales in higher-priced neighborhoods. (A drop off in high-end sales can tug down the median.)

Foreclosure resales - the percent of homes resold that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months - have risen in the Seattle region this year, accounting for about 15 percent of all resales last month. Still, it's well below the levels seen in other major Western markets, where foreclosure resales now account for half or more of all resale activity.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA

Number of sales	7-Nov	8-Nov	%Chng
Resale houses	2,405	1,325	-44.90%
Resale condos	611	291	-52.40%
New homes	1,000	477	-52.30%
All homes	4,016	2,093	-47.90%

Median sale price	7-Nov	8-Nov	%Chng
Resale houses	$360,000	$312,000	-13.30%
Resale condos	$254,900	$250,000	-1.90%
New homes	$368,888	$341,065	-7.50%
All homes	$347,700	$309,000	-11.10%

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157