Last month’s uptick in new listings is sure to be a welcome sign for Seattle homebuyers — and their battle-weary real estate agents. But April housing statistics released by Northwest Multiple Listing Service (MLS) show that sellers still won’t see their homes remain on the market for very long.

The number of buyers who locked in mortgage rates for second homes spiked to 178% year over year in April, according to a report from Redfin.

The housing market hit records last month as home prices reached an all-time high and homes sold faster than ever. 

Listing keywords associated with families and children, like community pools, nearby parks and cul-de-sacs, led to both faster-than-expected sales and higher premiums.

“This is a sign that the competitive purchase market, driven by low housing inventory and high demand, is pushing prices higher and weighing down on activity.” — Mortgage Bankers Association Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan

In 40% of metro areas analyzed, first-quarter home prices hit new peaks or tied previous ones, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ first-quarter 2021 U.S. Home Sales Report.

Homes stayed on the market for 10 days less than they did last year, at an average of 22 days.

The boost in inventory shows signs of seasonal norms as supply starts to catch up with demand.

Year over year, the pace of sales was up 66.8% nationwide.

As the economy slowly recovers from the early days of the pandemic, the share of loans in forbearance dropped for the seventh consecutive week, signifying a 40-basis-point decrease in the last two weeks.

Privately owned housing starts jumped 19.4% from February’s revised estimate to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,739,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development

Rising wages and falling mortgage rates are helping keep homeownership within reach of average wage earners nationwide despite surges in housing prices.

Nationally, home prices increased by an average of 10.4% over the previous year, representing the largest year-over-year gain since April 2006.

“The demand for a home purchase is widespread, multiple offers are prevalent, and days-on-market are swift, but contracts are not clicking due to record-low inventory.” — NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun

Much of the year-over-year increase in home sales was supported by continued robust activity in the Southeast, which saw a 20.2% rise to an annual rate of 458,000 transactions.

Eighty-eight percent of all homebuyers said they used an agent as a source of information during their search, and 91% of millennials age 22 to 30 said the same.