Let’s update our monthly stats for the local regions outside of the King/Snohomish core. Here’s your May update to our “Around the Sound” statistics for Pierce, Kitsap, Thurston, Island, Skagit, and Whatcom counties.
Are things any better in the market right now for buyers outside of the core Seattle areas? Unfortunately, not really. It’s still a pretty terrible time to be buying a home just about anywhere in the Puget Sound area.
First up, a summary table:
| May 2015 | King | Snohomish | Pierce | Kitsap | Thurston | Island | Skagit | Whatcom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price | $480,942 | $350,000 | $255,000 | $266,950 | $246,850 | $286,000 | $247,400 | $289,000 |
| Price YOY | 8.7% | 7.7% | 8.5% | 15.8% | 7.8% | 15.7% | 6.0% | 5.9% |
| Active Listings | 3,280 | 1,816 | 2,818 | 911 | 1,085 | 577 | 545 | 1,000 |
| Listings YOY | -21.1% | -17.7% | -17.8% | -26.4% | -14.8% | -24.8% | -30.4% | -22.4% |
| Closed Sales | 2,684 | 1,082 | 1,203 | 329 | 344 | 150 | 178 | 288 |
| Sales YOY | 15.4% | 26.1% | 10.8% | 10.4% | 11.0% | 25.0% | 16.3% | 34.0% |
| Months of Supply | 1.2 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 3.5 |
Next let’s take a look at median prices in May compared to a year earlier. Prices were up from a year ago across the board. Gains ranged from as low as 6 percent in Whatcom to as high as 16 percent in Kitsap.
The number of listings on the market fell by double digits year-over-year in every county. The biggest loser of listings was Skagit County, where listings fell 30 percent from a year ago. The smallest decrease was in Thurston, where listings were down 15 percent from last year.
Closed sales increased in May compared to a year earlier in all eight counties. The biggest gains were in Whatcom County, which saw 34 percent more sales than last May. The smallest gains were in Kitsap County, where sales increased 10 percent.
Here’s a chart showing months of supply this May and last May. The market was less balanced than a year ago, skewing more toward sellers in all eight counties. The least terrible market for buyers was in Island County, which still has just 3.8 months of supply.
To close things out, here’s a chart comparing May’s median price to the peak price in each county. Technically everybody is still down from the peak, with drops ranging between just 0.01 percent in King County to 19 percent in Skagit County. Note of course that this chart is not adjusted for inflation. Here’s a recent post that shows how King County home prices look when you take inflation into account.
This year is basically a bust for home buyers, no matter where around the sound you’re looking for a home.
If there is certain data you would like to see or ways you would like to see the data presented differently, drop a comment below and let me know.