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Latest Figures Show New Home Sales Rise in Seattle, Prices Drop

Posted on: May 06, 2013 07:33:56 AM

There was a rise in new home closings in the Seattle, WA market in February year-over-year, but signs of market leveling were showing as the percentage lift was less than January 2013. There was a 36.3% rise in new home closings from a year earlier. This came on the heels of a 41.8% hike year-over-year in January.

A total of 6,761 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in February, up from 6,617 for the year that ended in January.

New home closings made up 12.0% of overall housing closings. A year earlier, new home closings represented 11.1% of total closings. For new and existing homes, closings jumped year-over-year in February after also increasing in January year-over-year.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

The average price of new homes declined 1.4% year-over-year in February to $384,844 per unit. The decline is a downward shift from a 2.3% rise in January year-over-year.

The average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a rise year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. Average mortgage size increased 2.3% to $321,029 in February from a year earlier. In January 2013, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 5.3% rise year-over-year from a year earlier. Of the overall sale price, the percentage that was being financed rose 3.0 percentage points year-over-year to 83.4% in February 2013. This was another rise after January 2013 when there was a 2.4 percentage point rise from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

There has not been much movement in the composition of the market with regard of the types of properties sold. From a year ago, single-family home closings have moved from 89.4% of new home closings to 89.6% of closings while attached units have gone from 10.6% of closings to 10.4% of closings.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size dropped 11.2% year-over-year to 1,973 square feet in February 2013. A fall was also seen in January 2013 when the average size of new homes sold sank 13.9% to 1,795 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) closings declined in February from a year earlier, but remained a burden on the market. Foreclosures and REO closings, taken together, made up 37.6% of existing closings, lower than 48.9% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home closings involving foreclosures rose to 21.4% in February from 17.3% a year earlier while REO closings as a percentage of existing home closings slid to 16.2% from 31.6% a year earlier.

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