Although the local market is intense, buyers can find some relief because there aren't as many offers to compete with compared to earlier this year. The number of listings brokers added last month outgained the number of homes going under contract by a small margin in most areas in the report. Brokers added 12,916 new listings to the database during July. They reported 11,567 pending sales (mutually accepted offers) areawide, which covers 26 counties. At month end, there were 7,948 total listings offered for sale, down 22.5% from the year-ago total of 10,259. That was the highest level since October when inventory totaled 8,623 properties, including single family homes and condominiums.

August historically is the last month of the year with elevated levels of new listings before they slowly taper down in the fall and decline more substantially over the winter, reminding buyers they will find a better selection now than in the coming months. There is some 'normalization' in our market as it relates to the historical summer slowdown. It is suggested that the slowdown is occurring earlier this year, noting that we've also seen the warm weather in our region begin earlier which attributes some of the slowdown in real estate activity to the lifting of pandemic restrictions on June 30 when the state reopened under its "Washington Ready" plan. People are eager to enjoy the nice weather and take vacations.

Despite the extreme shortage of inventory and robust sales activity, there seems to be a bit of a leveling off from the market frenzy. This is due to a typical mid-summer season market combined with some buyer fatigue. Statistics show there were fewer pending sales last month (11,567), than during both June (12,328) and May (11,969). July's volume was down about 8.8% from the year-ago total of 12,682 pending sales.

While dangerous to compare 2020 lockdown figures to this year, it is interesting to see that new listings volume is starting to rise above 2019 levels. In July, MLS figures show member-brokers have added 1,723 more new listings of single family homes and condos than during July 2019 (12,916 versus 11,193). Year to date, brokers have added 1,438 more new listings this year compared to 2019.

Notably, 14 of the 26 counties in the MLS report showed year-over-year (YOY) gains in new listings, with half of them reporting double-digit increases: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Ferry, Grays Harbor, Kitsap, and Thurston. Three of the four counties in the Puget Sound region had YOY improvement, led by Kitsap County with a jump of 29.3%. The volume of new listings in King County dropped about 5.4% from a year ago. System-wide there was a 3.2% gain in new listings versus twelve months ago. Prices continue to climb by double digits in all but a few counties. Across all areas, prices for closed sales of single family homes and condominiums (combined) jumped 21.4% during July compared to a year ago, rising from $484,995 to $589,000. Last month's median price overall was unchanged from June. 

Brokers checked statistics from two years ago, noting prices in suburban counties and along much of the I-5 corridor have increased sharply. "Prices in Lewis County are up 54.2% from the July 2019 level, Snohomish County is up 40.6%, and Island County is up 44.3%. Skagit and Whatcom counties underperformed relative to these areas with median price increases of 36.4% and 38.4% respectively. Figures show four other counties have had price jumps of at least 40% -- Ferry, Grant, Grays Harbor, and Okanogan. Jefferson County had the smallest increase since 2019, with the median price increasing just over 24%, followed by Clark County, at 24.6% and King County at 26.2%.