It’s time once again to 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 April data:
- low end: $237,268-$412,500
- mid range: $327,000-$737,550
- high end: $477,500-$1,575,000
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).
The median price in all three tiers rose between March and April. The low tier rose 1.3 percent in the month, the middle tier increased 5.5 percent, and the high tier gained 4.8 percent. Meanwhile, the median price in all three tiers is still up year-over-year. Here’s how the median prices changed year-over-year. Low tier: +8.0%, middle tier: +1.5%, high tier: +6.8%.
Next up, the percentage of each month’s closed sales that took place in each of the three regions.
The share of sales in Seattle fell off dramatically in April, with South King and the Eastside both gaining ground. Year-over-year sales were down 3.0 percent in the low tier, up 5.6 percent in the middle tier, and down 2.4 percent in the high tier.
As of April 2014, 33.7 percent of sales were in the low end regions, 34.5 percent in the mid range, and 31.8 percent in the high end. A year ago the mid range had less of the share and the high range more: In April 2013 the low end made up 34.7 percent of the sales, the mid range was 32.7 percent, and the high end was 32.6 percent.
Here’s that information in a visual format:
Finally, here’s an updated look at the percentage of sales data all the way back through 2000:
In the pre-bubble market between 2001 and 2004, the volume of sales in the low tier typically had the largest share (35.8 percent on average across the period), followed by the middle tier (32.6 percent), followed by the high tier (31.6 percent). Even with the decline last month, the middle tier still has the lead with the most sales, which is historically abnormal.