Sales of new homes in the Seattle, WA market slipped year-over-year in October, curving down after an increase in September 2011. Sales declined 8.7% from a year earlier to 431, relative to a 1.6% rise in September from the year earlier.

A total of 5,378 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in October, down from 5,419 for the year that ended in September.

New home sales as a percentage of overall housing sales fell to 9.9% from 11.4% of sales a year earlier. Following a year-over-year increase in September, sales of new and existing homes also increased year-over-year in October.

Average price of newly sold homes had a 3.6% decline year-over-year to $357,210 per unit in October. This decline a drop off from the 6.8% decline in September from a year earlier.

For newly sold homes, the average mortgage size saw a rise year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. In October 2011, the average mortgage size was $335,970, a 7.3% rise from a year earlier. In September 2011, average mortgage size rose 1.1% from a year earlier. For new home sales, the percentage of the sale price that was being financed increased 9.5 percentage points year-over-year to 94.1% in October 2011.

Single-family homes accounted for a greater percentage of new home sales than last year. The share of new home sales belonging to single-family homes climbed from 71.6% in October 2010 to 90.0% of sales in October 2011. At the same time, the share of new home sales belonging to attached units fell to 10.0% of sales from 28.4% of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size rose 4.9% year-over-year to 2,013 square feet in October 2011. This rise was opposite the price decline, a pattern also seen in September 2011 when the average size of newly sold homes increased 3.1% to 2,172 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales remained a burden on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales represented 45.5% of existing home sales. They accounted for 53.0% in October 2010. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures sank to 22.4% in October from 36.4% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales rose to 23.0% from 16.6%.

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