by Calculated Risk on 2/10/2020 10:03:00 AM

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported Home buyers in Western Washington “hit the ground running” in January

“All indicators point to a vigorous spring market,” suggested broker Dean Rebhuhn when reviewing just-released statistics from Northwest Multiple Listing Service. The report covering 23 counties shows pending sales outgained new listings, record-low inventory that’s down 33% from a year ago, and double-digit price increases.
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Northwest MLS members tallied 5,074 closed sales during January for a 4.3% increase from the year-ago total of 4,865. Median prices jumped 10.7% from a year ago.
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At the end of January, the MLS database totaled only 7,791 active listings of single family homes and condos, well-below the year-ago figure of 11,687 (down 33.3%). A check of records dating to 2005 shows the selection is at a new low level, shrinking below the previous low of 7,921 reported for February 2018. In fact, for the 15 year span from 2005-2019 (180 months), inventory has dipped below 10,000 listings during only eight of those months.

Measured by months of supply (the ratio of active listings to closed sales), there was 1.54 months of inventory system-wide at the end of January.
emphasis added

The press release is for the Northwest. In King County, sales were up 5.7% year-over-year, and active inventory was down 42.6% year-over-year.

In Seattle, sales were up 17.2% year-over-year, and inventory was down 32.9% year-over-year..  This puts the months-of-supply in Seattle at just 1.38 months.