Seattle once again leads the country in home value growth, according to the September Zillow Real Estate Market Report. This is the ninth consecutive month that Seattle has done so. The median Seattle home is now worth $455,800, a 12.4 percent increase from this time last year. Meanwhile, U.S. home values are 6.9 percent higher than a year ago and the median U.S home is now worth $202,700.
This should come as no surprise due to the continued strong demand and limited inventory. Nationwide there is a 12 percent decrease in inventory. The top three metro areas are San Jose, Seattle, and San Diego that have seen the greatest drop in inventory. Compared to this time last year, there are 60 percent fewer homes on the market in San Jose and 35 percent fewer in Seattle and San Diego.
According to NWMLS, inventory reached 1.7 months of supply at the end of September. This equals to the year-to-date high that we reached in February. Despite these highs, inventory is still just a fraction of the 4-to-6 months of supply that is a typical an indicator of a balanced market.
In addition to home values, rental prices are also steadily rising across the nation. According to Zillow, rent growth has accelerated in each of the past five months. When it comes to the fastest appreciating U.S. Rental Markets, Seattle ranks at number 2 among the 35 largest U.S. metros. Seattle saw a 5.5% increase with a median rent of $2,189.
It seems as if rent prices will continue to trend upward over the course of the next year. Compared to the past year, Zillow’s Rent Forecast predicts rents to grow faster between now and September 2018 in 24 out of the top 35 largest markets that they cover nationwide.