Approaching the end of August always brings that familiar ‘back to school’ feeling. Squeezing the last ounces of fun out of the summer all while shopping for new school supplies to use in the coming days. 

This summer also brought with it the familiar feeling of normalcy: reduced mask-wearing, group gatherings, and crowds at T-Mobile Park to watch the Mariners, as well as the typical spring/summer rhythm in the residential real estate market. 

In the last edition of Real Insights, I speculated our market may calm due to the “Summer of Love” distraction our society may enjoy. My theory suggested that once more people were vaccinated, we’d see them forget home shopping and out enjoying all the usual summer fun they missed in 2020.

While we’ve seen increased travel and gathering crowds, our market has only calmed a little bit. Despite a less frenzied feeling in the market, the average days on market for a Seattle home is continuing to drop year-over-year and the number of homes sold is still rising by double digit percentages.

To be sure, we have sub-markets in the Seattle/Bellevue region where sellers are only receiving one full-priced offer. This, my friends, is the ‘calm’ market. Not every house is experiencing the mass bidding wars from the first and second quarter. But we are still squarely in a seller’s market.

I guess not EVERY buyer is out playing.

As we move forward into autumn, I’m expecting more of the same: sustained low inventory, continued multiple offers in many areas, and more signs that we are moving back into our usual pre-pandemic activities.

And please raise a well-deserved toast to parents everywhere. Those school supplies being sold right now will go to great use in the classroom once again!

- Phil Greely