Seattle-area housing inventory dropped 25 percent in November

Redfin recently released their November Housing Market Report, pointing out that the median sale price rose 7.7 percent to $271,400, which is the highest annual price growth in 14 months. Homes sold climbed 20.1 percent but inventory fell 9.7 percent from last year.

In Seattle, almost all of those trends played out to extremes.

As previously noted by the Case-Shiller Index, Seattle hit the top spot in terms of hottest market in the nation. Per Redfin, typical Seattle home went under contract in just 15 days, down from 18 days from a year earlier. 80.5 percent of homes for sale were off the market within two weeks.

As you’d figure, inventory has fallen off a cliff. There were only 2,611 new listings in November, a 26 percent drop from October. Total homes for sale checked in at 4,260, a 24.8 percent nosedive from the previous month and 14.9 percent down from last year. Even the number of homes sold, 4,075, was down 8.2 percent from last month.

Median sale price in November checked in at $455,000. Of course, if we’ve learned anything from all the bidding wars out there, that median house probably started with an asking price of $350,000.

• No Holiday for the November Housing Market as Home Prices Climbed Nearly 8 Percent [Redfin]
• Seattle is finally the hottest housing market in the nation [CS]
• Tales from the Seattle housing market: Modest home almost gets $1 million [CS]