The Rate Rollercoaster

Just when it felt like mortgage rates were stabilizing at 6%, they ticked up to 6.13%. While it’s tempting to point to recent geopolitical tensions, the experts at Mortgage News Daily are skeptical that oil prices are the primary culprit. The silver lining? Rates are still significantly more attractive than this time last year, when we were consistently seeing figures in the high 6s (before they jumped over 7%!)

A Tale of Two Neighborhoods

We just handed off keys to clients moving into a beautiful, larger home in Magnolia. Interestingly, we didn't face any serious competition, just one "maybe" offer. It’s a stark contrast to Ballard, where buyers have been aggressively bidding up prices all year. It goes to show that even in a hot market, there are still pockets of opportunity if you know where to look.

The Condo "Steal" at Spire

Today, we helped our 13th buyer at Spire get under contract on a stunning high-floor, northwest corner unit. For context on how the market has shifted:

• 2022: The unit one floor above sold for $2.15M.
• Today: Our buyer is under contract for under $1.8M.

It is truly a wild time in the Seattle condo market.

☕ We Need Your Intel!

We don’t have any bidding wars on the books this week, but we’d love to change that for next week. Tell us what you’re seeing out there! Send us a tip on a hot listing or a market observation, and we’ll send you a Starbucks gift card as a thank you.

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Listings that caught our eye last week

• Most expensive pending: Issaquah estate at $6M
• Highest % over asking sale: Mt Baker craftsman for 56% over (17 offers!)
• Most expensive sale: Medina Heights modern for $6.4M
• Most popular Seattle listing on Redfin: Gatewood Midcentury for $1.075M
• A reader’s mid-century listing in Bremerton is still looking for a buyer: 2324 E 17th St

Must-read real estate news

• Net worth of Seattle-area households more than double the U.S median (Seattle Times)
• Seattle Airbnb prices are spiking for World cup. Should you rent your home? (Seattle Times)
• The housing market is tilting back toward buyers (NYT)
• Microsoft has no ‘imminent plans’ to build 5 HQ buildings (PSBJ)
• Seattle construction costs rise modestly as market shows ‘improving resilience’ (PSBJ)
• Amazon will not renew lease for Denny Triangle building (PSBJ)
• Universal Auto Group owner lists Clyde Hill estate for $25 million (PSBJ)
• Seattle’s climate and housing efforts bottlenecked by …. power poles? (Seattle Times)

More new listings than last year, but the number of homes going pending is about the same

Seattle: 330 new listings last week, up 3.8% w-o-w
Eastside: 233 new listings last week, up 10.4% w-o-w

Seattle: 204 pending last week, down 1.4% w-o-w
Eastside: 146 pending last week, up 35.2% w-o-w

The hottest new listings

$6.5M Capitol Hill French Norman with $3M modern renovation by Chadbourne + Doss

$5M Houghton contemporary

$2.3M View Ridge remodeled midcentury modern

$1.8M Inverness midcentury modern (pending!)

$1.6M Kenmore NW contemporary

$1.2M Lake Forest Park midcentury modern by John Burrows (pending!)

$1.075M Gatewood midcentury modern (pending!)

Check out last week’s market update,

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