Number of Seattle homes for sale increasing dramatically, report finds
SEATTLE - The number of homes available for sale in Seattle is increasing at the second-highest rate in the country as the red-hot real estate market of the past few years begins to cool, says a new report.
The report, by real estate marketing site Zillow, found that there were 3,324 more homes on the market in Seattle last month than there were at the same time in the previous year - an increase of 36.9 percent.
That's the second-highest increase in the nation, behind only San Jose, Calif., which saw an increase of 42.9 percent in for-sale home inventory. San Diego saw the third-highest increase, at 31.9 percent, Los Angeles was fourth at 29.1 percent and San Francisco was fifth at 25 percent.
Across the nation as a whole, there were 1.2 percent more homes for sale in January than there were in the previous year - a much smaller increase than in Seattle, but still the first time in more than five years that the nationwide for-sale home inventory has grown in January.
The rising number of homes for sale is good news for buyers, who now have more selection than they have had in years and less competition from other buyers. Mortgage rates just over 4 percent also remain very reasonable by historic standards.
The bad news for buyers - home prices are continuing to go up at an average year-over-year rate of 7.5 percent nationwide. And the inventory of homes for sale is still 20 percent less than the recent high of more than 2 million set in July 2014.
The study also found that rents are rising at an average rate of 2.1 percent over the same time last year.