After the initial quarantine of the pandemic, many analysts commented on the outlier trend of residential housing sales. An examination of the data from the Eastside to Bainbridge Island and other areas by Realogics Sotheby's International Realty one year later shows that the lack of inventory and the flood of purchasers was not an isolated incident.

The real estate market had a great start this year. Low inventory, rising median home sales prices, and short time on the market continued these patterns in the second quarter of 2021, putting sellers in the driver's seat. Each quarter, Realogics Sotheby's International Realty analyses five significant areas to see where the market has been and where the trends are leading us.

S&P Dow Jones issued their April 2021 CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index as Seattle sweltered under the heat dome in late June. The index revealed historic residential price increases across the board, with just Chicago falling short of a 10% year-over-year increase. Seattle and San Diego, with gains of 20.2 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively, continued to outperform their West Coast counterparts.

In February 2021, after five months of close calls, San Diego's residential prices finally surpassed those of Seattle on the Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Despite this, prices in the Central Puget Sound region rose by more than 15%, and all but two cities on the index (Chicago and Las Vegas) experienced double-digit year-over-year increases

The Fast-Growing Brokerage Spurs the Second Largest Listing Volume by Brand in Northwest MLS; Executives Plan for Closings and Supply to Double in Spring Sales Surge Over Next 60 Days

The November Case-Shiller Home Price Index reported that for the tenth consecutive month, the Seattle metro area remained second in the nation in terms of residential price growth year after year after nationwide leader Phoenix. For the fourth month, San Diego remained in third place, outranking Tampa in August for the first time. In all three of these top cities, residential price indices rose year-over-year at rates between 12 and 14 percent. Over the same period, no other West Coast city has seen prices increase by more than 10 percent.

On December 31, when the clock reached midnight, few were surprised to see 2020 expire. But despite the difficulties of the last year, the real estate market remained resilient. It continued to boast median home prices that had continued to grow since the initial lockdown last March, more closed home sales than this period last year, and low inventory for its quarterly reporting in almost all market areas.

As Fast-Growing Brokerage Earns Top Ranking for Luxury Sales and Productivity per Broker in 2020, Gross Sales Production increased 69 percent; Executives Plan Roster & Division Expansions in 2021

The strongest headwinds caused by COVID-19 in 2020 were in urban centers across the country. According to S&P/Case-Shiller reports, Downtown Seattle was not sheltered, despite the Seattle metro area commanding the highest aggregate median home price increases in the U.S. for most of the year.

The real estate market has largely been a beacon of positivity in an extraordinary year. Every quarter, Realogics Sotheby's International Realty (RSIR) looks at these five market areas to determine where our market has been and plan for where it is going next.

There has been much talk around the possibility that Americans are feeling less enamored with the benefits of living in a large city and now may be longing for the open spaces that suburban and rural areas provide.

Like many Americans, Seattleites are moving for a variety of different reasons. The current health crisis has truly re-shaped our lifestyles and our needs. Spending extra time where we currently live is enabling many families to re-evaluate what homeownership means and what they find most important in a home. According to Zillow…

Whether you're thinking of buying or selling a home this year, there are perks today that are rarely available, and definitely worth looking into. Here are the top two.

Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its latest jobs report. It revealed that the economic shutdown made necessary by COVID-19 caused the unemployment rate to jump to 14.7%.

When looking at GDP (the measure of our country’s economic health), a survey of three leading financial institutions shows a projected sharp decline followed by a steep rebound in the second half of this year:

Many believe when real estate values are increasing (in cities like Seattle), owning a home becomes less affordable. That misconception is not necessarily true.

The success of the Seattle real estate market, like the overall US housing market, is determined by supply and demand. This means we need to look at how many potential purchasers are in the market versus the number of houses that are available to buy. With early 2020 housing data now rolling in, it’s quite evident there are two big stories impacting this year’s residential real estate market

Regardless of the lack of inventory on the in the US and local Seattle market, the U.S. homeownership rate has climbed to a 6-year high. The United States Census Bureau reported that it increased to 65.1% in the fourth quarter of 2019, representing the highest level in the past six years.

We’re currently in the longest economic recovery in U.S. history. That has caused some to ask experts to project when the next economic slowdown (recession) could occur. Two years ago, 67% of the economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for the Economic Forecasting Survey predicted we would have a recession no later than the end of this year (2020).