Weather, Other Distractions Dampen Home Sales, But Prices in Western Washington Still Rising

KIRKLAND , Wash. ( Dec. 7, 2006) – Housing activity in November held up quite well “considering some gloomy headlines,” according to reports from members of Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Its latest report shows more than 7,000 sellers accepted offers on their homes during November.

Despite dreadful weather, the midterm elections, war worries and shifting attention to the holidays, brokers added about the same number of new listings to inventory last month as they did 12 months ago. They also reported another month of double-digit increases in median sales prices, but said pending sales faltered in the wake of record-setting rainfall, snow and more plentiful inventory.

For the Northwest MLS service area, which spans 19 counties and encompasses almost 80 percent of the state’s population, the median price of a home (including single-family dwellings and condominiums) that sold last month was $319,300, about 11.4 percent higher than a year ago when the median sales price was $286,600. In King County, the price jumped 13.6 percent, climbing from $350,000 to $397,500.

Pending sales dropped from last year’s volume, which set records. Brokers notched 7,022 pending sales during November (offers made and accepted but not yet closed). That’s a decline of nearly 12 percent from the same month a year ago. Floods, snow and ice contributed to the slowdown, said NWMLS director Dick Beeson, who also pointed to the buildup of inventory and buyer uncertainty as other factors.

Beeson, the broker/owner at Windermere Real Estate/Commencement Associates in Tacoma, said the market offers a mix of good news and bad news. For buyers, the news is good because inventory is 35 percent larger than a year ago so their choices are more plentiful. For sellers who are impatient or who have overpriced property, the news isn’t as rosy, he suggested.

NWMLS members added 8,453 listings to inventory last month, nearly matching the volume of a year ago when they added 8,560 listings. With those additions, the inventory rose to 31,874 listings, up about 35 percent from a year ago. (Two counties, Clark and Pacific, were added to the MLS report two months ago. They account for nearly 2,000 additional listings of single family homes and condominiums, bringing the system-wide total to 33,817 at month end.)

Every county has more inventory than a year ago – and fourteen of them reported an increase of at least 30 percent in the number of active listings.

Most counties also experienced double-digit increases in sales prices. A comparison of the 19 counties in the MLS market area shows a wide range of prices for single family homes (excluding condominiums). System-wide, the median price for sales of single family homes that closed last month was $331,000, up 10.3 percent from a year ago. The most affordably priced homes were located in Grays Harbor County, where last month’s median sales price was $148,000 and Okanogan County ($155,500).

At the other end of the spectrum, homes in San Juan County that sold last month had a median selling price of $747,050. In King County, the median price for a single family home that sold during November was $435,000, up from the year-ago figure of $389,000 (an increase of 11.8 percent).

Last month’s condominium sales volume also tapered off from a year ago, but only slightly. Members reported 1,208 pending sales – only 38 fewer than the volume for November 2005.

Selling prices for closed sales of condos out-gained single family homes, increasing more than 21 percent from a year ago. Brokers reported a median sales price of $249,900 for last month’s completed transactions. In King County, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of last month’s condominium sales, prices surged 24 percent, rising from the year-ago figure of $219,990 to $272,950.

The changing market is causing anxiety among some of the newer agents, according to Beeson, who noted some of them have never experienced a slower cycle. “Their perception is ‘the sky is falling’ because their listings don’t sell in two weeks or they haven’t received multiple offers,” he commented, adding, “The reality is we have entered a more normal, balanced real estate market.”

Northwest Multiple Listing Service is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Based in Kirkland and owned by its member brokers, it currently encompasses nearly 2,100 companies with more than 26,000 sales associates. Together, they serve 19 counties, mostly in western Washington, plus Grant, Kittitas and Okanogan counties in the central part of the state.