Southeast Seattle Sees Greatest Home Sale Price Increase in King County

It’s no question that 2020 was an unprecedented year in just about every way possible — including real estate. Low inventory and high demand sent home prices skyrocketing, ratcheting up the competition in King County’s already hot market. This competition didn’t slow down in the winter months either, as neighborhoods continued to see a rise in prices and home sales through the end of December.

But among the region’s most competitive neighborhoods, which ones fared the best at the end of 2020? Recent data from the NWMLS gives us some insight into King County’s strongest neighborhood markets.

Ballard/Greenlake and North Seattle both saw a marked increase in closings. Compared to December 2019, the neighborhoods both saw a 44% increase in closings. Ballard/Greenlake also had a significant price increase, from an average of $705,000 in December 2019 to $776,500 this year.

In terms of Seattle price increases, Southeast Seattle saw the greatest gains, coming in with an average increase of 16.4% in the neighborhood.

Last month, Queen Anne/Magnolia saw the number of houses under contract in their neighborhood more than double from December 2019, also indicating a strong interest in the area.

King County at large also performed well at the end of the year, with closed sales rising over 28% from December 2019, and the median price increasing almost 10%. In Seattle specifically, the number of closed sales rose 30.7% and the median price increased 5.8% year-over-year. On the Eastside, Kirkland/Bridle Hills saw the largest price increases in the county.