NWMLS brokers log 64,208 sales during 2023

Published on: January 18, 2024

Transactions are valued at nearly $48 billion

Northwest MLS, the source for the most current, accurate market listing data in Washington state, today released its Annual Report on sales and listing activity for 2023. The activity in the report reflects the work of its more than 32,000 brokers in over 2,500 member offices across 26 counties.

Sales Recap

Northwest MLS members reported 64,208 sales of residential homes and condominiums during 2023. The total closings were valued at more than $48 billion, with residential homes accounting for nearly 87% of the total sales. Condominiums made up the approximate remaining 13%. Compared to 2022, there were 19,829 fewer sales in 2023, a decrease of 23.6%. This is the second year-over-year decrease in sales since the record highs of 2021, where the total number of closings was 107,354 (the first time the sales volume topped the 100,000 mark) and the value of sales was just over $75 billion.

The median price for last year’s completed transactions was $600,000, a decrease of 2.44% from 2022’s figure of $615,000. For comparison, the median price ten years ago in 2013 was $270,000. Both residential home and condominium median prices decreased year-over-year, with residential homes decreasing 2.04% from 2022, and condominiums decreasing 1.69%.

The decrease in sales volume in 2023 is indicative of the persistent low inventory paired with high interest rates, particularly in the more populous King and Snohomish counties. This trend is echoed by Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research (WCRER), who attributes the continued decline to “the high-interest rate environment, [which] has further decreased the purchasing power of prospective buyers.”

Brokers also reported fewer pending sales during 2023 compared to 2022, with year-over-year volumes down 18.24%. The year-over-year number of mutually accepted offers fell 11 out of 12 months last year, peaking early in the year in March; however, the year-over-year accepted offers increased by 2.02% in the month of December, a surprise given historic seasonal trends.

Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic, noted the decrease of interest rates in December as contributing to the increase of accepted offers. “Rapidly slowing inflation and the Fed’s signal for rate cuts in 2024 provided much needed relief and optimism for housing activity going into the new year, especially with interest rates falling to mid-6% by Christmas.”

Listing Activity

Brokers added 81,612 new listings during 2023, down from the previous year’s volume of 110,294. This represented a significant drop of 26.01% of available inventory. Activity for new listings, including single family homes and condominiums, peaked in June with 9,481 added listings.

On average, there were 9,579 active listings in the NWMLS database each month in 2023. This is a nearly 5% decrease from 2022’s average of 10,075 and is consistent with reports of persistently low available inventory.

Inventory as measured by months of supply averaged 1.77 months overall for 2023, improving on 2022’s average of 1.464, but still well below the balanced market range of 4-to-6 months. At year-end, there was about 2 months of available supply. 2023 inventory started off with approximately 2.52 months of supply but dropped in March to about five weeks’ worth of supply (1.38 months). Supply was slow to recover throughout spring and fall, peaking again in November with 2.33 months of supply.

Snapshot of Prices

Although prices continued to remain high compared to those a decade ago, there are signs that the market may be softening as interest rates start to lower in the coming months. The residential median home price of $625,000 was $13,000 less than the 2022 median price of $638,000, a 2.04% decrease; condominium median prices decreased by 1.69% from $473,000 in 2022 to $465,000 in 2023.

10 of 26 counties in the NWMLS service area reported price increases, primarily in rural counties as buyers continue to seek affordable properties throughout the state; Ferry County recorded the largest increase in median price of $252,450, up 13.72% from the previous year’s $222,000, followed by Okanogan County’s 5.74% increase to $359,000 from $340,000. Chelan County recorded one of the largest decreases in median price of $535,000, down 6.29% from 2022’s $570,000.

Buyers seeking to purchase in more metropolitan areas may be in luck in coming months, with median prices in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties decreasing in 2023 by 2.47%, 3.67% and 4.11% respectively.

Price range statistics showed a downward trend, with 35.69% of buyers paying less than $500,000 for their home, up from 29% in 2022. Homes selling for $1 million or more decreased in number, registering only 18.3% of sales compared to 19.85% in 2022. 11,083 residential properties were sold at $1 million or higher, including 1,089 that sold for over $2.5 million. The highest-priced residential home sale was recorded in Medina at $38 million.

When reviewing the highest home prices by school district, over half of the 11 most expensive districts were in King County. Mercer Island school district in King County showed the highest median sales price of $2,240,000, followed by Bellevue, Lake Washington, Issaquah, Northshore and Snoqualmie Valley school districts recording median sales prices over $1 million. Outside of King County, Shaw Island School District in San Juan County showed the highest median sales price of $1,987,500, followed by Green Mountain in Clark County ($1.5 million), Bainbridge Island in Kitsap County ($1,398,000), Orcas Island in San Juan County ($1.205 million) and Riverside in Spokane County ($1.025 million).

Prices for 3-bedroom homes varied widely across the MLS market area, topped by San Juan County where the median sales price was $1,000,000. At the other end of the spectrum, the typical 3-bedroom home in Ferry County had a median price of $275,000. King County recorded the highest number of 3-bedroom home sales in 2023, with 6,781 units sold.

Single family home sales during 2023 had closing prices at 99.9% of the list price, a decrease from 2022 in which sellers received 102.5% of their list price. The ratio of sale price to list price exceeded 100% in the first part of 2023 but dropped below that threshold starting in September and continuing through December.

Snapshot of Condominiums

Condominiums accounted for 13.1% of all sales during 2023 (8,426 units), with 58% of them in King County. 18.3% of condominiums sold were in Snohomish County.

The median price for 2023’s condominium sales area-wide was $465,000, a 1.69% decrease from 2022’s sales. Condominiums in King County had the highest median sales price of $509,000, up 1.8% from the previous median of $500,000. Grays Harbor contained the lowest median sales price of $217,000, down 14.9% from its previous median of $255,000.

NWMLS members recorded 3,780 condominiums priced at $500,000 and higher, with 690 condominiums selling for over $1 million. The highest-priced condominium sale was recorded in Bellevue at $12,850,000.

Snapshot of New Construction

There were 9,130 newly constructed units sold by NWMLS members in 2023, both residential homes and condominiums, accounting for about 14.2% of sales during 2023. The median price for all new construction was $700,000, down 5.41% from 2022’s figure of $740,084. The median price of new construction residential homes was $699,715; for new construction condominiums it was $760,000.

2023 Statistical Review & Highlight Report

View the comprehensive 2023 Statistical Review & Highlights Report for more information.

2023 County Statistical Reports

Download the individual PDF county reports

Market Trends & Statistics

View Historical Real Estate Statistics.

Get granular on real estate statistics with interactive charts encompassing the length of active, new, and additional metrics.

Historical Stats