Weekly Market Update: September 28th through October 4th

We’re officially into October, and the fall market is starting to look like the fall market.

I was out of the country last week, so there was no market update. That means the comparison below is to our last update from two weeks ago rather than a true week over week comparison.

And there are a couple of numbers worth talking about.

This Week’s Stats

New Listings: 196 ↓ from 212 two weeks ago
Pending Sales: 166 ↑ from 160 two weeks ago
Sold Homes: 154 ↑ from 102 two weeks ago
Price Reductions: 228 ↓ from 255 two weeks ago

What Stands Out This Week?

First, new listings dropped below 200.

We saw 196 homes come on the market compared with 212 in our last update. That’s not a dramatic decline, but it fits with what we normally expect as we move farther away from the summer market and into fall.

Fewer homeowners typically choose to launch a new listing this time of year.

Buyers, however, are still buying.

Pending sales actually increased slightly from our last update, moving from 160 to 166. That’s important because while fewer new homes are entering the market, buyer activity hasn’t seen the same drop.

Then we have 154 closed sales, up significantly from the 102 reported in our last update.

I wouldn’t read too much into that increase by itself. We skipped a week of reporting, and the end of September can also bring a concentration of closings as transactions wrap up before the end of the month.

But 154 closed sales certainly tells us homes are still moving.

And then there are price reductions.

We had 228 this week, down from 255 in our last update but still higher than the 196 new listings that came on the market.

That continues to be one of the more interesting stories in our local market.

What Does This Mean for Buyers?

Fall can create some interesting opportunities for buyers.

There are fewer new listings hitting the market, but there are still plenty of sellers who listed during the summer and haven’t sold yet.

Some of those sellers are now adjusting their prices.

With 228 price reductions this week, buyers shouldn’t focus exclusively on the newest listings. A home that has been sitting for several weeks may look very different after a price adjustment, and the seller’s motivation may be different too.

There’s still competition for the right homes, but buyers generally have more room to evaluate their options and negotiate than they did in a much faster market.

What Does This Mean for Sellers?

The fall market doesn’t mean you can’t successfully sell a home.

It does mean you need to understand the competition.

With fewer new listings coming on the market, a well prepared and correctly priced home can actually benefit from having less new competition.

But the 228 price reductions this week also show what happens when buyers don’t see the value at the original asking price.

The first few weeks on the market matter. Pricing based on what buyers are doing today, rather than what a neighbor sold for months ago or what you hoped the home might bring, becomes increasingly important as we move deeper into fall.

The Bottom Line

The market isn’t shutting down for fall.

New inventory is slowing, but pending sales are holding steady. Homes are still closing, and buyers are still writing offers.

At the same time, price reductions continue to outnumber new listings.

That combination tells a pretty clear story: buyers are still here, but they don’t feel pressure to chase every home that comes on the market.

For sellers, pricing and presentation matter.

For buyers, fall may provide opportunities that weren’t available earlier in the year.

That’s the story of the market right now across South Snohomish and North King Counties.