Slow start to prime buying season in the marketplace
As spring gets underway, inventory levels are high but the pace of sales is relatively slow. The number of active listings showed double-digit year-over-year increases in most counties when compared to April 2024, demonstrating that homeowners are primed and ready to sell.
Buyers were granted a bit of a reprieve as mortgage rates stayed relatively consistent throughout April, finishing out the month at 6.76% – the same rate as the end of March 2025. In addition, the median sales price for residential and condominium sales stayed virtually unchanged from March 2025, increasing from $649,999 to $650,000 in April 2025.
“As the number of sellers continues to outpace buyers, it is not surprising that price growth has slowed,” said Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research (WCRER). Recent media coverage identifies not only socioeconomic uncertainties such as tariffs and inflation, but also the willingness of both buyers and sellers to make concessions as potential factors in final sales prices in the last month.
Source: NWMLS
Zillow to prohibit listings that are privately marketed starting in May
Zillow, the country’s largest real estate search portal, will move to permanently prohibit listings that fail to be added to the MLS within 24 hours of being publicly marketed, a defiant new standard that could immediately impact future listings as brokerages rush to launch their own private networks.
The new standard takes effect in May; Zillow executives told Inman and comes on the heels of a decision last month by the National Association of Realtors to amend its divisive Clear Cooperation rule with the addition of a new Delayed Marketing Exempt Listings option for home sellers. That option will allow multiple listing services to determine how long listings can be seen by other MLS participants without being publicly listed.
“A listing marketed to any buyer must be available to every buyer,” Zillow said in an announcement on Thursday, reflecting its commitment to Clear Cooperation. The new standards will go into effect on both Zillow and Trulia.
-Inman
Breakouts! – Residential SOLD Average
The National Association of Realtors poll found that home staging increased offer prices by up to 10%
It may seem like a small detail in the grand scheme of selling a home, but room staging has an outsized influence on selling prices, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
In a poll of real estate agents, NAR found that 29% said home staging increased offer prices by 1% to 10%. Additionally, 49% of sellers’ agents noticed that home staging reduced the time their clients’ homes spent on the market, with 19% observing a significant reduction in selling time.
-Luke Baynes
Gina Brown (NMLS# 115337)
Senior Loan Officer
🏢 C2 Financial (NMLS# 135622)
425-766-5408
ginabrown@C2financial.com
www.loansbygina.com
