According to the latest statistics from the Seattle Times, the housing market is still hot. “Homes sold last month in King County were on the market an average 37 days, compared with 52 days for homes sold the previous September. Properties in neighboring counties also were snapped up faster than a year ago.” The article notes that while home prices in Boston and Washington DC have started to decline, our market stays strong.

Interestingly, the home market has remained strong despite the recent increases in interest rates. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac is quoted in the Seattle PI as saying “The most likely pattern is for mortgage rates to gradually rise over time. It is likely that they’ll hover at 6 percent or just a bit over.” He added that “will translate into somewhat weaker demand for housing, lower home sales volume and lower house price growth.”

Further interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve will likely increase rates even higher:

At the same time, a few consumers prospecting for properties – especially those prequalified by lenders – may be spurred into action by the rising interest rates.

“People may start buying before it (the mortgage rate) goes up any more,” Binczewksi said. “They would make offers because they have rate locks. Now, with rates increasing, they won’t want to lose rate locks.”Further interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve probably will push ARM rates even higher, analysts said.

With the rapid growth in home prices, I’ve seen many of my clients opting for smaller homes and/or condos. The Time article reflects this pattern by showing the the total number of available condos is way down (1,347, compared with 2,121 a year earlier) while the median price is up ($229,950, up from $205,000).