The Seattle Real Estate Market Has Thawed!

Buoyed by the federal $8000 tax credit and historic low interest rates, King County home sales rose 30% in May from April, a pace three times the national average.

Sales of Seattle resale houses have been right around 350 a month from April to June, a downright balmy number compared to the frigid 161 sales in January. A typical January would have had about 450 sales; a typical spring month, 675. So Seattle resale volume is about half of what has been typical from 2000-2007.

Andpeople have begun to spend more for houses: the median sales price in Seattle had dropped back as low as $385,000 in January, and is now at $410,500 - a huge 6.2% increase at a time when the national economy is struggling to get back on its feet.

The national analysts concur, also. The April S&P Case-Shiller Price Index shows that Seattle values were up for the first time in a year, showing 0.23% lift, while the national rate was virtually unchanged at down 0.014%, and First American CoreLogic's Loan Performance Home Price Index reported a 0.5% lift for April.