by Calculated Risk on 3/09/2020 04:47:00 PM

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported NWMLS brokers report brisk activity, noting “too early to tell” if coronavirus will soften sales

“It’s still too early to tell if the broadening effects of the coronavirus will sideline buyers,” said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate. “What we do know is that news of the virus led equity markets sharply lower and this caused mortgage rates to drop significantly. Therefore, the question is whether buyers will put their search on hold until the virus has abated, or if they will decide to move forward so they don’t miss out on near historic low mortgage rates,” he added.
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Inventory remained tight. At month end, there were 7,655 active listings in the 23 counties included in the MLS report. That was a 32% drop from the year ago total of 11,275. All but two counties (San Juan and Douglas) reported declines. Thurston County had the largest year-over-year drop, at 45.7%, followed by Snohomish (down 42%) and King (down 40.7%).

There is only 1.45 months of supply area-wide, according to Northwest MLS data.
emphasis added

There were 5,265 sales in February 2020, up 2.3% from 5,145 sales in February 2019.

The press release is for the Northwest. In King County, sales were up 5.4% year-over-year, and active inventory was down 40.7% year-over-year.

In Seattle, sales were up 5.2% year-over-year, and inventory was down 32.5% year-over-year..  This puts the months-of-supply in Seattle at just 1.3 months.