Seattle Real Estate in August: Sales up 15% YoY, Inventory UP 8% YoY

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported Would-be homebuyers have more buying power, but also more competition for meager inventory

Extremely low interest rates mean would-be home buyers have more buying power, but sparse inventory and increasing home prices in many parts of Washington state are leaving many buyers unable to take advantage of these attractive rates, reported broker Frank Wilson upon reviewing the latest statistical report from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Member-brokers reported 9,847 closed sales, up more than 4.8% from a year ago. That volume was the highest since June 2018 when there were 10,072 completed transactions.
emphasis added

There were 9,847 sales in August 2020, up 4.8% from 9,392 sales in August 2019.

The press release is for the Northwest. In King County, sales were up 9.6% year-over-year, and active inventory was down 27% year-over-year.

In Seattle, sales were up 14.6% year-over-year, and inventory was up 7.7% year-over-year..  This puts the months-of-supply in Seattle at just 1.8 months.