Market Statistics for RE Magazine for 3Q 2022
Building permit activity dropped 17.1 percent from a year earlier, totaling 11,519 new units authorized. Of these, 4,891 were issued for single-family units.
The median price home sold in Washington during the third quarter was $629,100, 8.7 percent higher than a year earlier, but 3.9 percent lower than the previous quarter.
Housing affordability remained fairly stable for median income buyers and for first-time buyers relative to the previous quarter. The affordability index for median-income buyers was equal to or above 100 (i.e., the median priced house was affordable to a household with median income) in only 4 of Washington’s 39 counties. The first-time buyer index continued to show a lack of affordability in all counties.
Inventories of single-family homes available for sale totaled 16,564 at the end of the quarter, an 11.3% increase from the previous quarter and a 102.6 percent increase relative to a year ago. This inventory level represented a 1.9 month’s supply, an imbalance, where demand continues to exceed the supply of homes on the market.
These trends suggest that higher interest rates are making housing less affordable, reducing demand and increasing inventory. Consequently, prices are beginning to decline. These offsetting trends are reflected in relatively stable housing affordability indexes. Affordability continues to be a problem in almost all counties for median income buyers and is a problem in all counties for first-time buyers.
Washington Center for Real Estate Research
Runstad Department of Real Estate
University of Washington
wcrer@uw.edu