Seattle becomes No. 1 in the US market

There's been a large increase this year in Chinese buyers looking for property in the Seattle area, and a new tax of foreign buyers in Vancouver, B.C., is expected to amplify the trend. Seattle is now the number one market for Chinese home buyers.

More than 2/3 of the houses (67.6%) for sale in Seattle were under contract in less than 2 weeks according to Redfin's market report. The next fastest was Grand Rapids at 61.8%. Portland was down at 46.9%. The national norm is 21.3 percent. So yes, sales are moving faster in Seattle - much faster. Our median time was 13 days; so half of the houses up for sale found a buyer (or buyers) in less than two weeks. That’s a scramble for a lot of folks but if a house hasn’t sold in over a month keep in mind that the national median is 49 days.