Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a good year for WA real estate
Northwest Multiple Listing Service has released a comprehensive report summarizing the real estate activity in Washington state in 2020. Member-brokers have reported 95,760 closed transaction during last year, which added up to the value of over $56 billion. Both the number of transactions as well as the dollar volume were higher than those in 2019.
The average median home price was up year-over-year as well, coming in at $475,000 – this includes both single family homes and condominiums. The sales were up 3.5% (or about 3,200 transactions) last year as compared to the year before. Around 87% of all sales were of single-family homes and the remaining were condominiums – around 12,350.
Prices for single family homes only increased about 12.6% system-wide, from $435,000 in 2019 to $490,000 in 2020. King county had the highest median price for single family homes, coming in at $724,950 – up 7.4% year over year. The largest price gain was experienced in Kittitas county – a staggering 21%. Condominium prices rose as well, although not as dramatically – about 7%, to $380,000 area-wide. King county, where a vast majority of condo sales occur saw an increase of about 6.2% year-over-year, topping out at $430,000.
Luxury market also experienced a surge last year. Over 2,000 (or nearly 32%) more high-end homes (those that closed for $1 million or more) sold in 2020 than in 2019 – 8,313 units. In addition, a staggering 82 of the homes sold at $5 million on more. Luxury condos (ones that sold at $500,000 or more) also saw a surge last year, with a year over year increase of 20.4%, totaling 3,552 sales. In addition, 576 of those sales include condos that commanded $1 million or more.
The Northwest Multiple Listing Service report covers the work of more than 32,000 brokers in 23 counties, which make up about 82% of the state’s population. You can access the King County specific report, courtesy of the NWMLS, here.
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