As reported in the Seattle PI on Dec. 3:
King County house sales continued to surge in November, as buyers rushed to close deals before a tax-credit deadline, while prices remained lower than a year earlier, according to a new report.
Closed house purchases were up 81 percent countywide in November from a year earlier and 78.4 percent in Seattle, according to data the Northwest Multiple Listing service released Thursday. That’s up from year-to-year increases of 33.3 percent in the county and 39.5 percent in Seattle in October.
Pending sales, which indicate more-recent activity, were up about 31 percent in Seattle and 36 percent countywide from a year earlier. That’s about half of October’s year-to-year increase.
The reason pending deals were higher in October and closed sales in November is that buyers were rushing to take advantage of a $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit for sales that closed by the end of November.
