Remember the snowstorm? It had an effect on Thurston home sales, but not when you might think
Despite a series of disruptive snow storms last month, the Thurston County housing market had a pretty good February.
Single-family home sales were essentially flat, median price rose and inventory remains low, although not as low as it once was, according to new Northwest Multiple Listing Service data released Wednesday.
That’s been the pattern for the county housing market since late last year.
So why didn’t sales drop off more sharply after 18 inches of snow piled up in the county last month? It’s likely because there were enough pending sales in the home sales pipeline to prop up the February sales data.
But March could be a different story.
Although closed sales of single-family homes in February fell 4 percent, pending sales last month were well off the pace, down 19 percent from a year ago, the data show.
Van Dorm Realty managing broker Steve Pust said two weekends last month were effectively wiped out by the snow — and weekends are a key time to show off homes for sale.
Still, some factors of the local housing market remained unchanged, such as low levels of inventory that have long made it a seller’s market. Months of inventory stood at 1.53 last month, the data show. A healthy balance between buyers and sellers is thought to have inventory in the range of four to six months.
Pust said the months of inventory number last month doesn’t tell the whole story, however.
A home priced between $200,000 and $300,000 is going to fly off the market in about two weeks, he said. A home priced at $450,000 to $600,000 is going to sit on the market for three to four months, Pust said.
That makes it challenging for the first-time buyer, but a move-up buyer — a buyer looking to sell one home to get into another — is bound to get a bargain, he said.
Single-family home sales data for February
- Sales fell 3.9 percent to 290 units from 302 units.
- Median price rose 9.7 percent to $325,850 from $297,000.
- Pending sales fell 19.25 percent to 390 units from 483 units.
Condo data for February
- Sales rose to 11 units from 10 units.
- Median price rose 7.75 percent to $205,000 from $190,250.
- Pending sales fell to 10 units from 12 units.
This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 4:01 PM.
