Last month, buyers felt more stability and more certainty, resulting in a large boost in activity for the month of January, according to the officials from Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS). Real Estate Brokers reported an increase of nearly 27 percent in pending sales (purchase offers made and accepted, but not yet closed) from December 2009 and a 28 percent jump from January 2009.
There were 3,915 fewer active listings of single family homes and condominiums in the MLS system at the end of January, compared to January 2009. Last month 11,206 new listings were added to the inventory of listings, including 9,269 single family homes and 1,937 condominiums and townhomes. With those additions, the selection at the end of January totaled 34,256 listings, which down more than 10 percent from a year ago. The inventory of single family homes shrunk 11.5 percent, while the condo selection declined by 3.7 percent. There are less homes for buyers to choose from compared to twelve months ago, but there is still an enormous amount of homes for sale and buyers can still be choosey.
Across the NWMLS area, home sale prices for January’s closed sales fell approximately 4.8 percent from year-ago figures. The NWMLS service area covers 21 Washington State counties.
There were a total of 5,579 pending sales in January, which is a very nice improvement compared with the January 2009 total by 1,226 transactions (up 28.2 percent). For the four-county Puget Sound region (King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish), the number of pending sales escalated nearly 35 percent, led by King County’s giant increase of 47.4 percent.
At the end of January, there was about a 6.1 months supply (ratio of homes for sale to homes sold). Economists consider a supply of 3-to-6 months to be a balanced market. Anything over 6 months is considered a buyer’s market and when there is less than a 3-to-6 month supply of homes, it is considered a seller’s market.
The median sales price for January 2010’s closed sales of single family homes and condominiums combined was $259,903, which is down 4.8 percent from $273,000 twelve months ago. Compared to December 2009, home prices decreased approximately 1.9 percent area-wide, with eight counties showing increases in sales prices. In King County, last month’s median price of $350,000 for single family home sales was unchanged from December.
Short sales and tax credits may be skewing some of the data, according to industry insiders. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), believes the tax credit is skewing this market data. Yun commented on NAR’s report of December activity, which showed a 10.9 percent increase in pending sales from December 2008 and 1.0 percent increase from November, “There are easily understood swings in contract activity as buyers respond to a tax credit that was expiring and was then extended and expanded.” Noting December was the fifth highest monthly tally in two years, Yun stated “These swings are masking the underlying trend, which is a broad improvement over year-ago levels.”
Buyers with a contract in place to purchase a home by April 30, 2010, have until June 30 to finalize the transaction and qualify for a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for existing home owners moving and buying a new home.
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King County: 4,312 new listings; 10,679 active listings; 2,211 pending sales; 1,222 closed sales; average price of closed sales: $420,536; median price of closed sales: $350,000.
Pierce County: 1,844 new listings; 5,451 active listings; 962 pending sales; 500 closed sales; average price of closed sales: $226,347 median price of closed sales: $267,995.
Snohomish County: 1,924 new listings; 4,901 active listings 949 pending sales; 495 closed sales; average price of closed sales: $296,314; median price of closed sales: $267,995.
NWMLS: 11,206 new listings; 34,256 active listings; 5,579 pending sales; 3,142 closed sales; average price of closed sales: $316,141; median price of closed sales: $259,904.