November
11

Western Washington real estate brokers are crediting the federal tax credit and its impending expiration deadline for a surge in home sales last month. Members of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported a 63% jump in pending sales during October, compared to the same month a year ago. The other reason for such a surge of sales was that October, 2008, was the first month after the financial meltdown and sales dropped like a rock.

As of this writing, the homebuyer tax credit has been extended to April 30, 2010. You can read more about this here, in a previous article on our blog.

Pending Sales Up

In Whatcom County, pending sales increased nearly 75% in October compared to the same month a year ago. In Bellingham, pending sales increased 63% for October. Lynden was up 63%, Ferndale increased 105%, and Blaine/Birch Bay increased 67%, while Sudden Valley was up 39%.

The new figures show continued signs of some stability in the market and improving consumer confidence. Inventory levels are down about 10% and Whatcom County added about 313 residential new listings in October: about the same as one year ago.

Median Prices Down

The median price for October was $260,000. And, if you add condominium sales, the median price is $251,000. Overall value decreased 7.1% and 5% respectively.

Majority of Activity Under $350K

For the month of October, 80% of residential sales were under $350,000, versus only 71% a year ago. The upper-end market accounted for about 9% of the sales over $500,000 in October, as opposed to 7.7%  in October, 2008.

Interest Rates Remain Low

The weekly average interest rate borrowers were quoted for 30 – year fixed mortgages at 4.87 percent. Rates for a 15-year fixed mortgage were 4.31 percent.

Delinquencies on single-family homes continued to rise at the two big government-sponsored  mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, indicating that problems have yet to level off.