by Calculated Risk on 3/11/2019 05:37:00 PM

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported Heavy Snowfall Ices February Housing Activity Around Western Washington

Seattle's snowiest month in 50 years had an obvious chilling effect on February's housing activity, agreed officials with Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Statistics for last month show pending sales dropped nearly 14 percent compared to the same month a year ago.

"The winter weather brought the market to a halt," stated John Deely, principal managing broker at Coldwell Banker Bain. He said last month's series of snowstorms and frigid temperatures had a negative impact on the typical momentum that builds at the beginning of the year.

"Showing activity dropped more than 41 percent the week of the heaviest snow, and weekend keybox activity was down 80 percent," Deely reported. "The end of the month picked up as cabin fever weary buyers unleashed themselves on the burgeoning inventory," he added.

Despite the weather disruptions, brokers added 6,247 new listings to inventory during the month, 1,037 fewer than a year ago. At month end, Northwest MLS members reported 11,275 total active listings, a robust 42.3 percent jump from twelve months ago.
emphasis added

The press release is for the Northwest. In King County, sales were down 3.7% year-over-year, and active inventory was up 128% year-over-year.

In Seattle, sales were up 12.1% year-over-year, and inventory was up 164% year-over-year from very low levels.  This is another market with inventory increasing sharply year-over-year, but months-of-supply in Seattle is still on the low side at 2.0 months.