EVERETT — If there was any surprise at all in the poor home sales in July, it was that a few more people didn’t take advantage of extremely low mortgage rates.
Home sales in Snohomish County dropped by 15 percent last month compared to a year ago, and pending sales were down 25 percent, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported Aug. 5.
The sales drop was expected because of the poor economy and the lack of tax incentives that had been available to buyers this spring.
Meribeth Hutchings, a Lake Stevens Windermere broker who is on the listing service board, also noted that sales are typically down in July because a lot of people take vacations.
Hutchings added that she’s surprised more people aren’t buying because there are plenty of homes on the market, interest rates are at 50-year lows and prices are closer to what they were in 2004.
“It’s a housing trifecta,” she said.
Home prices continued to fall in the county in July. The combined median price for homes and condominiums, meaning half the homes sold for more and half sold for less, was $270,000, about 7.5 percent less than a year ago, when the median was $292,000.
The median price in King County was $100,000 more at $370,000, a 7.1 percent increase from last year. In Island County, the median price was $304,000, a 17 percent increase from last year.
Pat Grimm, a Windermere broker in Seattle, suggested that the spring tax credits took many buyers off the market early.
“The tax credit pulled some first-time buyers from the second half of the year into the first half,” he said.
Tacoma broker Dick Beeson, also a listing service director, said the lack of a federal tax credit “has caused some buyers to postpone their purchase.”
He also noted that consumer confidence in the economy is ebbing, making some people queasy about making a major financial decision right now.
“If the job picture improves even slightly later this year, we will see an uncharacteristic uptick in sales in the final quarter,” he said.
July home sales
Snohomish County
Listings: 5,908, up 4.4 percent
Pending sales: 870, down 25 percent
Closed sales: 727, down 15 percent
Median price: $270,000, down 8 percent
Island County
Listings: 1,229, down 2.5 percent
Pending sales: 107, down 4.5 percent
Closed sales: 84, down 6 percent
Median price: $304,000, up 17 percent
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