EVERETT – Prices for homes and condominiums in Snohomish County continue to soar, even as sales of both in March continued to be down compared with a year ago.
The median price for single-family homes hit $382,550 countywide last month, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service report issued Thursday. That’s nearly 16 percent higher than the median of $330,000 in March 2006.
Prices rose despite a 44 percent increase in the number of homes listed for sale from year to year and a nearly 18 percent drop in pending sales.
While Snohomish County’s price appreciation was the steepest in the central Puget Sound region, King County’s median price for a single-family home rose by 12 percent, to $454,950.
In the Snohomish County condo market, increasingly the most realistic option for first-time home buyers, the median price jumped by more than 25 percent to $238,796. Pending sales of condos dipped less than 7 percent compared with a year ago, though there were 87 percent more units on the market last month.
“We still have lots of people in Snohomish County who want to be homeowners, and most of them are having to buy condos,” said Nathan Gorton, executive vice president of the Snohomish County-Camano Association of Realtors.
While there are plenty more homes on the market compared with a year ago, Gorton said there’s not a glut. He estimated available homes made up a five- to six-month inventory, compared with just a two- or three-month supply a year ago.
“We had a critical lack of inventory in recent years,” Gorton said. “And even with listings up so much, they’re still not where we’d necessarily like them to be.”
Robert Mundie, a real estate agent at John L. Scott’s Lake Stevens office, said sales activity still seems strong in the northern half of Snohomish County, where prices are lower. He noted that March typically is the last month of the slower winter season, as people are more apt to look at moving as the weather improves and the end of the school year approaches.
Northwest Multiple Listing Service statistics prove that out. While pending sales dropped year to year in Snohomish, King, Pierce and Kitsap counties, they rebounded by 16 percent from February.
Island County was one of the few to see prices drop from last year. There, the combined median price for single-family homes and condos was $290,000, down 3 percent. For-sale listings rose by 37 percent and pending sales dropped by 16 percent.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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