By Reporter Staff

Median sales prices of single family homes in Bellevue inched up in June 2009 over May.

The sale price of a home in West Bellevue was $1,175,000 in June, up slightly from $1,050,000 in May. A year ago June the median sales price in West Bellevue was $1,285,000.

There were 27 closed sales in June, compared with 25 in May and 15 in June 2008.

In East Bellevue the median sales prices in June was $507,000, up a tick from May’s $500,000. A year ago in June, the median sales price of a home in East Bellevue was $575,000.

There were 47 closed sales in June, up from 45 in May and 44 in June 2008.

While the median home price is down about 9.5 percent from a year ago, median prices have flattened over the past seven to nine months, noted J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate.

“This is an indication that the $8,000 tax credit is working and the market has reactivated itself in the more affordable and mid price ranges,” Scott said.

House-hunters are finding fewer choices than a year ago in both West and East Bellevue.

The median price of a condo jumped in West Bellevue over May and June 2008. The median price in June was $445,000 in West Bellevue. That is up from $372,000 in May 2009 and also up from $324,125 in June 2008.

East Bellevue saw similar gains. The median sales price for a condo in East Bellevue was $319,990 in June 2009 compared with $270,900 in May and $312,500 in June 2008.

Compared to 12 months ago, the Puget Sound region has nearly 7,000 fewer homes listed for sale.

Region-wide, buyers continue to look for modestly priced homes, with first-time buyers accounting for about 40 percent of today’s market.

Asking prices in the 19-county area served by the service range from $24,000 to $32 million, however homes at the lower end of the price spectrum tend to be in short supply in some areas. In King County, for example, MLS data indicate less than 9 percent of the inventory of single family homes has an asking price under $250,000.