Let’s check in on our December monthly neighborhood update to the neighborhood breakdown of Seasonally-Adjusted Active Supply (SAAS). For an explanation of what seasonally-adjusted active supply is, please refer to this post. Also, you may view a map of the areas discussed in this post.
As usual, courtesy Tableau Software (available free to use online soon!), the neighborhoods SAAS update is rocking sweet interactive data visualizations.
In the charts below I have taken the calculated value for SAAS and subtracted 2, in order to better visualize the difference between a buyer’s market and a seller’s market. Using this method, negative SAAS values indicate a seller’s market, while positive values indicate a buyer’s market.
Summary
King County’s overall SAAS jumped back above the “balanced” level, coming in at 2.10 for December (November was 1.52). 9 of 30 areas came in below 1.75 as seller’s markets, 12 of 30 came in above 2.25 as a buyer’s market, and the remaining 9 were more or less balanced between 1.75 and 2.25.
Hit the jump for the rest of this month’s interactive charts and commentary.
Here’s a year-over-year comparison for each NWMLS neighborhood.
Year-Over-Year Comparison
Only a few areas came in as stronger buyers’ markets than December 2008, with 11 markets flipping from buyers’ markets last year to sellers’ markets this year.
Regional History
Lots of neighborhoods ticked up from November to December, despite the seasonal adjustment inherent in the SAAS calculation. The fake expiration of the tax credit is probably to blame there.
The three toughest markets for sellers were Downtown Seattle condos (701) at 4.8, Jovita / West Hill Auburn (100) at 4.0, and Des Moines / Redondo (120) at 3.8.
The three best markets for sellers as of last month were Queen Anne / Magnolia (700) at 1.3, Skyway (360) at 1.4, and West Bellevue (510) at 1.5.