Sun comes out on home sales

Weather, tax returns help market in Thurston County

By Jim Szymanski | The Olympian • Published May 05, 2008

Rebounding pending home sales last month were a sign that there might be new energy in the Northwest real estate market, Realtors said Monday.

Pending single-family house and condominium sales in a 19-county region last month reached the highest level since August, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported. Northwest brokers reported 6,208 pending sales (offers made and accepted but not yet closed), the highest monthly amount since 7,751 last August. The region includes western and central Washington counties.

South Sound Realtors said improving weather and buyers with income tax returns in hand are coming off the sidelines to help slowing house and condo sales.

"The sun's out, and real estate is going fine," said Paul Klenk, a Realtor for Van Dorm Realty. "I think we're going to have a good market this spring and summer."

Though real estate agents are optimistic with the coming of spring, sales remain lower this year than last.

Sales of Thurston County single-family houses and condos slipped 19.5 percent in April compared with the same month last year, while the inventory of homes for sale increased slightly in the same period, the listing service reported.

Key results included:

• Thurston County median prices for houses and condos slipped 1.79 percent, from $267,500 in April of last year to $262,725 this year.

• Single-family median sales prices in the county dropped 2.71 percent, to $267,500. But median sales prices for condos increased 8.99 percent, to $199,950, the service reported.

• The inventory of county homes last month was 2,123 homes, up from 2,085 a year ago.

• A total of 284 single-family houses and condos were sold in the county last month, down from 353 in April of last year.

Though home sales volume in the county was down, the sales decrease was lower than the 29.7 percent dip in the listing service's 19-county region.

Weather a factor

Bob Jorgenson, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Evergreen, agreed that recent weather improvements from the Northwest's long, wet winter are coaxing more buyers to look at homes.

"The last couple of weeks, it's like somebody just flipped a switch," Jorgenson said of improving home sales.

He said wet, even snowy Northwest weather as late as April this year depressed home sales.

"We've definitely noticed a sales pickup since better weather began," said Anya Myer, a Realtor with ReMax Parkside Affiliates. "We always believe the sun brings out more sellers and buyers."

In the current market, sellers must remember to price their homes competitively, Realtors said.

Buyers are becoming more educated and know when a home is overpriced, Myer said.

"If a house is not priced aggressively, it doesn't take much for buyers to figure what it should be priced at," she said.

Buyers, too, must adjust to the current slower market compared with 2005 and 2006, when home values were rising faster than today.

"If you want 10 percent appreciation in a year, that's not going to happen how," said Phil Harlan, associate broker/owner partner with Keller Williams Realty. "People forget what a normal market is like. Buyers need to think long term toward holding on to the house three, five, or seven years."