King County Home Supply Update: October 2014

It remains a seller’s market in the eight largest King County cities of Seattle, Renton, Auburn, Kent, Bellevue, Kirkland, Federal Way, and Redmond.

These eight cities have an average home supply inventory of 2.21 months’ worth of homes. Compared to a “balanced” timeline of four to six months’ supply, this suggests that King County is an in-demand market and that demand is currently out-stripping supply. Chief among these is Seattle, where there is just 1.6 months’ supply remaining (compared to 1.9 months’ supply in July of this year). On the opposite end of this spectrum are the cities of Auburn and Federal Way, each with 2.8 months’ supply remaining (still well below the national average).

There are currently 3,890 homes for sale in these eight King County cities. In Seattle alone, there are 1,532 currently listed, with an average asking price of $522,087 and an average size of 2,009 sq. ft. This works out to about $260 per square foot of living space in the Emerald City. In the seven other, smaller cities, there are 2,358 homes for sale, commanding an average asking price of $549,075 for 2,551 sq. ft. of living space. This equates to approximately $215 per square foot in these seven King County cities. The largest increase in year-over-year sales was seen in Renton, which witnessed a 12% increase in sales over last year. The steepest decrease was seen in Auburn, where sales dropped 31% over last year.