King County home sales climb in Feb.; prices steady

It's too early to say if this spring's home sales will be a repeat of last spring's frenetic activity, but February's home sales point to it, according to statistics released today by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The number of pending sales in King County climbed to 3,272 last month, compared with 2,492 in January.

However prices have yet to take a big jump — good news for buyers.

King County's median single-family home price has not edged upward in several months, according to the MLS.

It put February's median sold price at $429,925, about what it's been since fall, but up almost 9 percent compared with February a year ago.

The picture is more complex for King County condos. Median sales prices have bobbled up and down — from $269,950 in December to $229,900 in January to $285,250 last month. That's happened for a number of reasons.

One big one: Numerous new condo projects are now being sold, which can affect the mix of sales, and thus the median prices, in any given month.

But the buyers are definitely there, said, Lennox Scott, CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate.

"Housing activity for the month of February continues to show signs of regeneration as sales remain on par with year-ago totals. Interest rates dropped down again, bringing the 30-year fixed-rate-mortgage to about 5.8 percent," Scott noted. "This combined with continued job growth are the key indicators to a stable housing market in the coming months."

Windermere broker Karen Lavallee said sales activity in her office's West Seattle neighborhood showed a marked increase recently.

"Our office picked up about the third week of January, and it's been good ever since," she said.

Lavallee thinks that reflects pent-up demand from November and December, when bad weather kept home shoppers away.

"But the sun comes up and everything perks up," said Lavallee.

Scott reports that the strongest sales are in the more-affordable price ranges. Those vary according to neighborhood.

Additionally, "King County continues to see a slight shortage of inventory in the more-affordable price ranges in neighborhoods close to the job centers in Seattle and Bellevue," he said.

The MLS calculates that King County has just under a three-month supply of single-family homes for sale. There's about a two-month supply of condos. A supply of six months or more is seen as favoring buyers.

February's median single-family sold prices for the four central Puget Sound counties — King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap — were up between 9.4 percent and 12.5 percent compared with a year earlier. Pierce had the highest appreciation; King the lowest.

That likely reflects median prices. At $286,980, Pierce County is the most affordable, so it potentially can attract more buyers. Competition drives prices up.

At $429,925, King was the least affordable county in the area last month.

Seattle was even less affordable. It's median single-family home sale was $440,250, and annual appreciation reflected that. In the last year, homes within Seattle have appreciated 7.1 percent.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com