Let’s take an updated look at how King County’s sales are shifting between the different regions around the county, since geographic shifts can and do affect the median price.
In order to explore this concept, we break King County down into three regions, based on the NWMLS-defined “areas”:
- low end: South County (areas 100-130 & 300-360)
- mid range: Seattle / North County (areas 140, 380-390, & 700-800)
- high end: Eastside (areas 500-600)
Here’s where each region’s median prices came in as of March’s data:
- low end: $157,000—$282,500
- mid range: $230,000—$615,000
- high end: $376,000—$1,025,000
First up, let’s have a look at each region’s (approximate) median price (actually the median of the medians for each area within the region).
Both South King and the Eastside saw increases between February and March, while Seattle / North King actually dipped slightly.
Next up, the percentage of each month’s closed sales that took place in each of the three regions. The dotted line is a four-month rolling average.
Not surprisingly, the big bump in the county-wide median price from $308,125 in February to $330,000 in March corresponds with a big dip in the share of homes sold in the cheapest parts of the county.
Lastly, here’s an updated look at this same set of data all the way back through 2000:
If this one-month dip in sales in South King continues as we move through the spring and into summer, expect the county-wide median price to continue to climb. Personally I think the mix over the next year or so will probably resemble roughly what it was from 2004 through 2006, but for different reasons (more cash buyers instead of zero-down buyers)