T
he Seattle area's housing market is slowly gaining momentum as the supply of homes for sale relative to demand reached its highest level since before the pandemic in September. Mortgage rates also ended the month at their lowest point in two years, making it slightly easier for buyers to enter the market. However, the market remains sluggish, and high prices continue to deter many potential buyers.

    According to Realtor.com, homes across the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area spent a median 43 days on the market in September, six days longer than a year earlier. Sellers cut prices on about 16% of listings, which is in line with last year's numbers. The median price of home and condo sales in King County was $950,000 in September, up 6% from the previous year.

    Pending home sales were up across the Puget Sound region in September compared to a year earlier but remained below 2019 levels. Sale volumes are nearly as low as they were during the early years of the 2008 Great Recession. Rob McGarty, founder of Bushwick Real Estate, notes that while there is more activity, it still feels slow due to high home prices and monthly payments.

    Home prices in King County climbed most on the Eastside, where the median single-family home sold for $1.5 million, up 7% from a year earlier. The median home in Seattle sold for $938,000, up 1%. Buyers are finding more homes to choose from, but the number of new listings remains well below pre-pandemic levels.

    The "lock-in" effect, where homeowners hesitate to list their homes due to rock-bottom mortgage rates, is slowly easing as mortgage rates dip. Some sellers are finally listing their homes, even in what's typically a slow real estate season. In Seattle, some of these homes are still drawing bidding wars, but buyers can sometimes find deals on homes that have been sitting for more than a week.

    Buyers waiting for bigger drops in mortgage rates may be waiting a while, as economists expect rates to hover around their current levels through the end of the year. Even if the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates, mortgage rate declines will likely be smaller and happen in anticipation of those moves.