Latest news with #NorthwestMultipleListingService
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Are there any silver linings for the Thurston County home buyer? Yes, new data show
The Thurston County housing data released for May looks pretty familiar: sales and median price rose, and inventory inched a bit higher as well, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service. However, 'Seattle-area homebuyers had 'more negotiation power in May than any May on record going back to 2018,' Zillow senior economist Kara Ng told The Seattle Times. So, did negotiation power for buyers in Thurston County also improve? There's some indication of that, said Mitch Dietz, the owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty of Olympia. His real estate business tracks its own data. They haven't crunched the May numbers just yet, but he said their April data might be encouraging for buyers. Eighty-three homes went under contract at his office in April, Dietz said. Of those total pending sales: ▪ A majority of them — 81% — either received a full price offer or an offer below list price. Only 19% of the offers were above the list price. ▪ The seller paid the closing costs in 23% of those deals. ▪ Cash offers represented about 18% of the pending transactions. That number has been right around 20% in recent months, he said. The other glimmer of hope for buyers is that inventory in Thurston County rose above two months in May, the Northwest MLS data show. But Dietz said don't get too excited by that number because it is still a sellers' market. A balanced market that doesn't favor either buyers or sellers has four months of inventory, while at six months it shifts to a buyers' market, he said. For the county to return to a market that favors the buyer, it would require about three times the current inventory, or about 1,800 active listings. Thurston County has been in a sellers' market since October 2014, he said. There also has been national real estate news suggesting there are more sellers than buyers. That is not the case here, Dietz said. The county housing market rarely reflects national trends — the exception would be the financial crisis of 2008 — because the county has a stable economy (state workers, Joint Base Lewis-McChord) and an influx of people who want to live here, Dietz said. As a result, that steady demand, combined with low inventory, means median price continues to go up. It rose more than 7% to $547,000 in May, compared to May 2024, Northwest MLS data show. Combine that with mortgage interest rates of about 7% and it's still an expensive place to buy a home, he said. 'Buy now and refinance later if you can afford it,' said Dietz, because if rates fall, the market heats up and pushes prices higher. ▪ Single-family home sales rose 5.37% to 314 units last month from 298 units in May 2024. ▪ Single-family home median price rose 7.25% to $547,000 from $510,000 over the same period. ▪ Single-family home pending sales rose 1.67% to 426 units from 416 units over the same period. ▪ Condo sales rose to 16 units from 15 units over the same period. ▪ Condo median price was unchanged at $315,000 over the same period. ▪ Condo pending sales rose to 24 units from 17 units over the same period. Source: Northwest MLS.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Listings up, mortgage rates steady, but buyers are still nervous
May 30—MOSES LAKE — Listings are up in Washington, and interest rates are holding steady, according to the latest data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends for 26 of Washington's 39 counties. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.86% in May, only a tenth of a percentage point above March and about the same amount less than the 6.94% of a year ago, according to Freddie Mac. Rates peaked at 7.79 in October 2023 and have mostly fluctuated between 6% and 7% since then. Median home prices remained steady as well, changing by less than a percentage point statewide as well as in the Basin. The median home price in Grant County was $340,000, the same as April 2024, and in Adams County the median price was $310,000, the lowest in the 26 counties NWMLS covered, compared to $331,500 in April 2024. Active listings showed more activity in Washington, rising 47.4% in April 2025 over April 2024, according to the NWMLS data. Grant County active listings increased almost 60% in that same time period, but only 15% in Adams County. That didn't translate to more homes changing hands, however. Closed sales remained the same between April 2024 and April 2025 statewide, although Grant County closed sales increased 21% and went up 4% in Adams County. The western part of Grant County, including Crescent Bar, Desert Aire and Sunland Estates, had the highest number of active listings in April, according to the NWMLS, and showed an increase year-over-year of 60.34%. Nationwide, new listings rose 8.4% in May, according to a report from technology-based real estate brokerage Redfin. Pending sales dipped by 2.2%, however, suggesting that buyers aren't going for what's available. Fewer Americans are willing to invest in a home with an unpredictable economy and high interest rates, Redfin's analysis said. "As the number of sellers continues to outpace buyers, it is not surprising that price growth has slowed," Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, wrote in the NWMLS release. "Recent media coverage identifies not only socioeconomic uncertainties such as tariffs and inflation, but also the willingness of both buyers and sellers to make concessions as potential factors in final sales prices in the last month," the release continued.
Time of India
29-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Compass sues US-based Northwest Multiple Listing Service over marketing rules
Residential real estate giant Compass has sued a major U.S. home-listing service , accusing it of blocking homeowners from using narrow listings to test pricing and demand before marketing their properties more broadly. Compass in its lawsuit in the Seattle federal court on Friday said Northwest Multiple Listing Service was trying to protect its dominance by overly controlling how sellers market their homes, in violation of U.S. antitrust law . Most homes in the United States are sold through a regional listing service like Northwest, a database that sellers and buyers use to check inventory and pricing. Northwest runs a database of homes for sale in Washington and Oregon. New York-based Compass said it and other brokerages should be allowed to list Pacific Northwest properties internally before marketing them more broadly. Such listings, known as "office exclusives," are common in other markets to tailor pricing and potentially avoid stalled listings, which can harm home values. Compass and Northwest Multiple Listing Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The listing service said it facilitated nearly 68,000 residential home sales last year valued at more than $54 billion. Northwest in a statement late last month on its website said that allowing an exclusive group of buyers and brokers to see homes "is fundamentally unfair." Compass' lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order allowing "office exclusives" in the Seattle market. Compass was among many major home brokers that were hit with antitrust claims for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to inflate home-sale commissions. Compass last year agreed to pay nearly $58 million to settle claims against it. The company denied any wrongdoing. The case is Compass Inc v. Northwest Multiple Listing Service, U.S. District Court for Western District of Washington.
Reuters
28-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Real estate broker Compass sues listing service over marketing rules
April 28 (Reuters) - Residential real estate giant Compass has sued a major U.S. home-listing service, accusing it of blocking homeowners from using narrow listings to test pricing and demand before marketing their properties more broadly. Compass in its lawsuit, opens new tab in the Seattle federal court on Friday said Northwest Multiple Listing Service was trying to protect its dominance by overly controlling how sellers market their homes, in violation of U.S. antitrust law. Most homes in the United States are sold through a regional listing service like Northwest, a database that sellers and buyers use to check inventory and pricing. Northwest runs a database of homes for sale in Washington and Oregon. New York-based Compass said it and other brokerages should be allowed to list Pacific Northwest properties internally before marketing them more broadly. Such listings, known as "office exclusives," are common in other markets to tailor pricing and potentially avoid stalled listings, which can harm home values. Compass and Northwest Multiple Listing Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The listing service said it facilitated nearly 68,000 residential home sales last year valued at more than $54 billion. Northwest in a statement late last month on its website said that allowing an exclusive group of buyers and brokers to see homes "is fundamentally unfair." Compass' lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order allowing "office exclusives" in the Seattle market. Compass was among many major home brokers that were hit with antitrust claims for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to inflate home-sale commissions. Compass last year agreed to pay nearly $58 million to settle claims against it. The company denied any wrongdoing. The case is Compass Inc v. Northwest Multiple Listing Service, U.S. District Court for Western District of Washington, No. 2:25-cv-00766. For Compass: Ethan Glass of Cooley For Northwest MLS: Not yet available
Bloomberg
25-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Compass Sues Seattle-Area MLS in Battle Over Private Listings
Compass Inc. ratcheted up its fight to change how homes are sold online, filing a lawsuit against a Seattle-area group the brokerage alleges is engaging in anticompetitive practices. The suit, filed Friday in Seattle federal court, argues that the Northwest Multiple Listing Service is illegally restricting Compass agents from publicly marketing properties that were previously shared on an exclusive basis, as well as homes touted as 'coming soon' on the company's website. Compass, the biggest residential brokerage in the US by sales volume, also contends that NWMLS is violating homeowners' rights with the policy.
