Zillow: Months after U.S. housing market peak, Seattle area has 15 'million-dollar' cities

Tracking a slowing housing market nationwide

MarketWatch's Aarthi Swaminathan joins Good Day Seattle to talk about the slowing housing market nationwide and what that means for buyers in Seattle.

SEATTLE - Since the July 2022 housing market peak, the U.S. has lost 58 ‘million-dollar’ cities, where the typical home value is $1 million or more—but according to Zillow, that's hardly the case for cities in the Seattle area.

The tech real-estate company published a report Monday, which found the U.S. went from 522 million-dollar cities to 464 since July 2022.

Fortunately for prospective homebuyers, the typical home in million-dollar cities lost an average of $114,500 in value, though owning a home in the country's most populous states—which also have the most million-dollar cities—still may be a distant dream.

The Seattle area previously boasted 17 million-dollar cities, and has since dropped to 15 after losing Snoqualmie and Bothell. Washington has 16 million-dollar cities in the state.

If you have been browsing homes online, you may have figured out why those cities have dropped off. According to Zillow, supply and demand both dropped in late 2022 when mortgage rates spike. Homebuyers simply could not afford homes in these big cities and flocked to lower-priced homes.

Zillow reports expensive cities saw a major slowdown in real estate.

"Unfortunately for buyers, mortgage rates have overwhelmed these price cuts. But even though competition is picking up as we enter home shopping season this spring, it’s a much friendlier environment to buy a home for those who can make the finances work," said Zillow data analyst Anushna Prakash. "Sellers may have missed the market’s peak, but they can still get a higher price for their homes than last year in most markets, and certainly more than they would have before the pandemic. Getting the pricing right and boosting a home’s online curb appeal are keys to success for this spring’s sellers."

The Zillow Home Value Index finds the typical U.S. home is worth 4.1% less than it was in July. For homes in million-dollar cities, they have lost an average of 6.3% in value.

Get breaking news alerts in the FREE FOX 13 Seattle app. Download for Apple iOS or Android. And sign up for BREAKING NEWS emails delivered straight to your inbox.

For more information on the report, visit the Zillow website.