Pending home sales in Snohomish County plummeted in June as buyers no longer were tempted by government tax credits.
Pending sales, sales begun but not completed by the end of the month, fell 31 percent in the county in comparison to a year ago, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported Tuesday.
Pat Grimm, a Seattle broker on the listing service board, said it’s hard to tell at this point whether buyers are just taking a break or that the June slump was a “hangover from the tax credit.”
Closed sales in the county in June were up significantly. There were nearly 900 homes sold last month, a 20 percent increase from June 2009.
The increase in home sales in June may have been helped by mortgage rates at 50-year lows and home prices at six-year lows. The combined median price for single-family homes and condominiums in the county last month was $267,750, a more than 10 percent drop from last year at this time.
A big part of the sales increase was likely people trying to close their April deals by June 30, a requirement for the $8,000 tax credit for new buyers and $5,000 credit for existing homeowners who bought a different home.
Congress has since extended that deadline ensure that people who did make a deal by end of April would be able to close it and qualify for the tax break.
“Congress has acknowledged the length of time it is taking banks to close a transaction by passing this extension,” said Frank Wilson, a Pouslbo broker also on the listing service board.
Grimm said the market isn’t as bad as some people think, but it’s not as good as others would like. He noted that last week’s interest rates were at 50-year lows.
“Lower prices and lower interest rates more than offset the benefit of the tax credit,” he said. “Homes are actually more affordable than they were three months ago, and that factors in the tax credit.”
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459, benbow@heraldnet.com.
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