You could say last month's numbers weren't as bad as what some forecasters thought - but they also weren't as good as some would like to have seen. We had the lowest mortgage interest rates in decades in June, but it still wasn't enough to generate a record number of home sales. I don't think think the numbers were bad at all, if you ask me.
Compared to May 2010, June 2010's pending sales were up 5.8 percent and closed sales were up 8.9 percent from May of this year and up by 617 transactions compare to June 2009. Year-to-date through June, pending sales reported in the NWMLS are up 12.4 percent compared with the same time-frame last year. In other promising news, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Lewis and Pacific counties all reported price increases from last June. King County reported an increase in average and median home sale prices over last month. This is definitely credited to the housing stimulus package.
The real estate community breathed a collective sigh of relief as Congress approved an extension of the closing date for the homebuyer tax credit, moving it from June 30th to September 30th, 2010. Approximately 180,000 homebuyers would have lost out on the tax credit as they missed the June 30th closing deadline, due to making offers on short sales.
Homebuyers still have plenty of options when it comes to housing inventory. 10,354 new listings were added to the NWMLS, bringing the total to 42,940 homes to choose from.
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King County: 3,986 new listings; 13,793 active listings; 2,219 pending sales; 2,348 closed sales; average price of closed sales: $447,150; median price of closed sales: $348,725.
Pierce County: 1,494 new listings; 6,336 active listings; 946 pending sales; 925 closed sales; average price of closed sales: $245,510 median price of closed sales: $219,950.
Snohomish County: 1,497 new listings; 5,813 active listings 821 pending sales; 898 closed sales; average price of closed sales: $289,385; median price of closed sales: $267,750.
NWMLS: 10,354 new listings; 42,940 active listings; 5,547 pending sales; 5,763 closed sales; average price of closed sales: $335,050; median price of closed sales: $265,000.
Compare these numbers to last month's report.