My apologizes that this month's newsletter is a little late. I'll try to be more timely in the future. Also, an update from last month on the Seattle area's run for the record of dry days in a row during the winter. The record is 15 and we made it 14 days. So, not a record, but close. As a side note, I was given incorrect info on WHEN that record was set -- it was 1963.
Per the latest NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) report, inventory increased 21% over last year at this time, and was up nearly 6% from December 2025. Thurston and Walla Walla counties had over 50% increase in inventory. At the same time, the number of closed sales decreased 7% compared to January 2025. More striking is that the number of closed sales dropped 31% from December 2025 to January 2026. But, even with all of that change, we are still statistically in a seller's market -- barely. A reminder that a balanced market is considered to be 4 to 6 months by most industry experts. At the current rate of sales, it would take about three and a half months (3.57) to sell every home that is active in the NWMLS inventory. Compared to this time last year, we are much closer to that balanced market -- we were at 2.8 months of inventory last January.
Mortgage rates continued their slow decline, with January down to 6.10% -- the lowest average monthly rate since 2022 (all per Freddie Mac). Check this and more on my website.
Finally some sort of positive news for Washington homeowners with regards to insurance rates. Nationally, home hazard insurance premiums increased 58% between 2018 and 2024. During that same time, Washington saw an increase of 33%. While increasing wildfire risk is affecting the cost and availability of hazard insurance in some parts of the state (Columbia county unfortunately has seen a 90% increase), others have seen barely a change (Mason leads here at just 12%). Insurance costs contribute to making homeownership more challenging, so less increases in rates is always better.
As always, buyers are still buying and sellers are still selling. I'm available to talk about your plans and/or anything I've mentioned above.
Until next month...
