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Seattle, WA - Latest Figures for New Home Sales Rise Year-Over-Year in November After Decline Year-Over-Year in October

Posted on: Feb 06, 2012 09:40:22 AM

In the Seattle, WA market, new home sales rose year-over-year in November, moving north after a decline in October 2011. New home sales increased by 9.7% in November 2011 from a year earlier, after sales saw an 8.9% decline in October from the year earlier.

A total of 5,426 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in November, up from 5,386 for the year that ended in October.

Out of all housing sales, new home sales made up 10.9%. A year ago, 11.7% of total sales were new home sales. Following a year-over-year increase in October, sales of new and existing homes also increased year-over-year in November.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

In November, the average price of newly sold homes dipped 7.5% year-over-year to $354,245 per unit. This decline is larger than the 3.6% decline in October from a year earlier.

In contrast to new home prices, there was an increase year-over-year in the average mortgage size on newly sold homes. In November 2011, the average mortgage size was $334,025, up 3.6% from a year earlier. In October 2011, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 7.2% rise year-over-year from a year earlier. Of the overall sale price, the percentage that was being financed climbed 10.1 percentage points year-over-year to 94.3% in November 2011.

Other Market Trends

As a share of new home sales, single-family home sales have climbed from last year while the share belonging to attached units has fallen. Single-family home sales jumped from 72.7% of new sales in November 2010 to 84.8% of sales in November 2011. Meanwhile, attached units as a percentage of all new home sales sank to 15.2% of sales from 27.3% of sales.

There was a 4.4% rise year-over-year in the average unit size of newly sold homes to 2,056 square feet in November 2011. For newly sold homes, an average size surge contrasting with an average price decline was also seen in October 2011 when the average size of newly sold homes declined 11.2% to 2,193 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales stayed a drag on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales accounted for 41.6% of existing home sales. They made up 47.1% in November 2010. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures slipped to 20.0% in November from 26.3% a year earlier and REO sales moved from 20.8% of existing home sales in November 2010 to 21.6% in November 2011.

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