Inventory shrinks, sales spurred in South County home market

Published 7:42 pm Tuesday, February 2, 2010

“Home for the holidays” took on special meaning for 153 South County buyers whose purchase offers were accepted during December, according to the latest report from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Closed home sales in December lifted 59 percent, plus the pipeline is primed with a boost of more than one-third more pending sales over December 2008. County-wide there was a gain of more than 78 percent closed sales, from 437 to 779, with one-third more pending sales.

Brokers say it’s a tough market but point to several indicators for good activity during this year’s first quarter.

“The distance seems great, but the direction is a good one,” NWMLS director Dick Beeson said.

Shrinking inventory, the extension of the first-time home buyer tax credit and favorable interest rates are among factors brokers believe will sustain activity.

Inventory in South County cities is down more than 17 percent from a year ago. At the end of December, brokers reported 806 active listings of single-family homes and condominiums. Single-family homes took the largest hit, sliding more than 20 percent, while the condominium market posted a 10 percent decrease.

For the four-county Puget Sound region, the number of active listings is down more than 18 percent, with Kitsap County reporting the biggest drop at 25.4 percent. Snohomish County posted a drop of 17.49 percent.

“Affordability has never been better,” said Dick Fulton, a past chairman of the NWMLS board of directors whose career spans more than two decades. Fulton, executive vice president at Coldwell Banker Bain, suggests would-be sellers list their property soon, rather than wait until spring, to take advantage of favorable conditions. With inventory much smaller than a year ago, sellers should benefit from more exposure to a good pool of buyers, he said.

The median price of homes in South County slipped from $305,000 to $299,950, down 1.6 percent. Condominiums gained more than 12 percent in value, lifting from $230,000 to $257,750. Single-family homes dipped 1.5 percent from $325,000 to $319,990. County-wide the decline in median price was just under 9 percent.