[Note: Stay tuned to this space next month, when we’ll be introducing another round of sweet Tableau charts.]
Here’s your look at March’s “Months of Supply” for the 30 NWMLS areas in King County. For an explanation of what months of supply means, please refer to the original neighborhood MOS breakdown post. Also, view a map of these areas here.
March MOS for King County as a whole dipped down into so-called “seller’s market” territory at 5.70 (compared to 6.19 for March 2008). The record run of county-wide 6+ MOS has ended at eighteen months.
In the graphs below, you’re looking at the MOS for the “Res Only” data from the NWMLS King County Breakout pdfs for the thirteen-month period of March 2008 through March 2009. The bar graph is centered vertically on 6.0 MOS, so that it is easier to visually tell the difference between a seller’s and buyer’s market (i.e. – shorter bars mean a more balanced market). The charts all have the King County aggregate figure plotted in red on the far right.
Note that there are a few areas that appear to have no bar at all for a given month—this represents an MOS value at or close to 6.0. It is also important to remember that whatever the reason, over twenty-five percent of pending sales are not making it to closing, which means that these statistics are likely overstating the magnitude of the “seller’s market.”
We’ll start off with the chart that lets you directly compare each area’s MOS to its value one year ago. March 2008 is in red, and 2009 is in blue.
Following below are the breakouts for SW King, SE King, Seattle, N King, and the Eastside, as well as a summary of this month’s data.
Note: For Area 701 (Downtown Seattle) we’re using condo data.
Months of supply decreased in most neighborhoods from February to March, which is the usual pattern as we move from winter to spring. Twelve neighborhoods remained in “buyer’s market” territory, while eighteen are now “seller’s markets.”
The cumulative MOS for Seattle proper dropped well into “seller’s market” territory at 4.5, while the Eastside as a whole dropped slightly, but remained a “buyer’s market” at 8.4.
Only eight of thirty neighborhoods trended more toward a buyer’s market than a year ago. Four neighborhoods still came in above 10 MOS (two fewer than last month), firmly in buyer’s market territory.
The three toughest markets for sellers were Mercer Island (510) at 21.3, Downtown Seattle condos (701) at 15.2, and Kirkland–Bridle Trails (560) at 13.3. Along with the county-wide stats breaking their 18-month streak of 6+, 520 also broke its 18-month streak of 10+ MOS, falling to 8.8.
The three best markets for sellers as of last month were Ballard/Greenlake/Greenwood (705) at 2.8, and North Seattle (710) at 3.1, and Central Seattle SW / Beacon Hill (385) at 3.6.