By Kellee Bradley

John L. Scott

On a monthly basis, this time of year the housing market usually sees more listing coming on the market than pending sales, said Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate.

But that didn’t happen on Mercer Island.

“The decrease in the number of new listings last month means a continuation of the hot, frenzy and competitive market for the backlog of buyers in Mercer Island who have been waiting to buy a home,” he said.

Sandra Levin, office leader of John L. Scott Mercer Island, said the Island remains a “hot market.”

“In June, new listings were down compared to last year, while the number of homes under contract increased by 7.5 percent,” Levin said.

She added that along with the increase in sales, Mercer Island saw a slight increase in median home prices.

“However, for sellers, we did see the normal end of June pause for the graduation season,” Levin said. “As the summer season continues, we are expecting to see multiple offers on most homes. Buyers are continuing to be aggressive with their offers and sellers are able to take advantage of the strong market and get premium prices for their homes.”

Pending homes sales jumped 31.3 percent last month compared to June of 2016. And how quickly did homes sell last month? The average “days on the market” was 16 days, which helps explain why there continues to be a shortage of inventory. All of those new homes are getting snapped up as soon as they hit the market, Levin said.

The total number of homes for sale is down 13 percent compared to last year, and new listings are also down 13 percent. The median home price last month was $1,521,000 for residential and condos combined, up slightly from last June’s median of $1,465,000.

For Puget Sound in general, every season has a story, and this summer it’s all about record sales. For the second month in a row, the market has hit a record for monthly pending sales in the four-country area of King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties for residential and condos combined. The market had 9,042 pending sales in June, with the runner-up being 8,896 in June of 2005. Strong job growth, price appreciation and low interest rates continue to fuel the Puget Sound housing market.