Monday, September 21, 2015

Local real estate market cools slightly in August

By Gordon Oliver, Columbian Business Editor

Published:

The Southwest Washington real estate market showed some cooling in August, with declines from July in closed sales and new listings, and only a slight increase in pending sales.
Pending sales, at 849 for the month, were 21.5 percent above the August 2014 level and slightly ahead of the 833 offers from July 2015, according to the Market Action report issued by RMLS, the Portland-based real estate listing service. The pending sales count for August was the highest for that month since 2005, when 1,052 offers were accepted.
Closed sales, at 744 for the month, were more than 12 percent higher than last August but were down by 9.3 percent from July of this year. New listings were also up by 12 percent year over year, but the month’s 933 new listings were 14 percent lower than in July.
The inventory of homes for sale in August was 2.6 months, the sixth consecutive month that the inventory count was between two and six months. In August 2014, there were enough homes for sale to last 3.8 months. Homes sold this August spent an average of 60 days on the market, about the same as in July.

Pent-up demand

The August median sales price of a home in Southwest Washington was $266,900, up 6.8 percent from last August but down from $273,700 in July.
Terry Wollam, managing broker at ReMax Equity Group in Vancouver, said the lower monthly number reflects weakness in the high-end housing market.
“Prices did not drop, but we saw less upper-end homes sell during this time frame,” Wollam said. “We should see a bump in October’s closings for upper-end homes due to a pent-up demand.”

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