2025 is off to a roaring start, at least for a few of our clients; in the last week, we helped three clients put homes under contract - a condo at Spire, a townhome in Eastlake, and a new home in Kirkland. We also listed a house in Eastlake yesterday, and it has been busy and will likely be pending tomorrow. We know it is still early, but 2025 feels like it will be busier than last year. One reason it might be busier is Amazon returning to work five days a week; on Reddit, someone complained that it took over an hour from Maple Leaf to SLU. Of course, we’re a little surprised it is busy, given mortgage rates are stuck in the 7s and hit a six-month high today. But at least the 30-year fixed is below its lifetime average of 7.75%. (Mortgage rates were 6.72% at the start of 2024 and 6. 2% at the start of 2023.)
Thanks again to everyone who contributed to our annual end-of-year Mary’s Place fundraiser! With your generous donations and our match, we raised $5,000. (It isn’t too late to donate; we’re still happy to match your donations!)
— Matt (and Land, Maggie & Alicia)
P.S. Our first home-buying class of the year is next week
NOTEWORTHY SALES LAST YEAR
This week, we’re sharing the most noteworthy sales of 2024.
Highest % over asking: Loyal Heights home goes 66% over asking
Most expensive: Medina waterfront acreage for $39M
Least expensive: Capitol Hill condo for $150K
Check out the following blog posts for more of the most popular and expensive sales of 2024:
LINKS
We haven’t had this many people with mortgages over 6% since 2016 (Mike Simonsen on X)
There’s a small property tax boost for Sound Transit in 2025 (Seattle Times)
Fault lines emerge as Seattle Council takes up housing plan (Seattle Times)
NEW LISTINGS BY WEEK
Slow start to the year, but that’s no surprise
Seattle: 72 new listings last week, up 227% w-o-w
Eastside: 46 new listings last week, up 155.6% w-o-w
HOMES GOING PENDING BY WEEK
95 homes go pending last week
Seattle: 62 pending last week, down 28.7% w-o-w
Eastside: 33 pending last week, down 10.8% w-o-w
HOT NEW LISTINGS
Eye candy
On pause this week as there were barely any new listings last week. But last week’s eye candy winner was the Cle Elum modern chalet.
THAT’S A WRAP
Here are two ways we can help
Thinking of buying? We’ve helped hundreds of people find their dream home in the Seattle area. We’d be happy to help you too. Just hit reply.
Thinking of selling? Hit reply, we can handle everything from start to finish. And if you’re hoping to sell this year, the time to get going is now!
