Single family home sales were up in West Bellevue in February over January and the average sales price also made a strong jump upwards.
A total of 14 homes closed in the area west of I-405 last month, with a median price of $1.1 million. In January, two homes closed, with a median price of $800,000.
There were 25 pending sales last month compared with 20 in January.
Agents are reporting “tremendous activity” at open houses throughout the 19-county area represented by the broker-owned Northwest Multiple Listing Service, according to Ron Sparks, managing vice president of Coldwell Banker Bain.
What’s holding some of them back appears to be a lack of consumer confidence.
“Buyers don’t yet understand what the stimulus package means to them,” said NWMLS director Kathy Estey, managing broker of John L. Scott’s Bellevue Downtown office. “Good houses at good prices that are affordable are getting attention,” she said, noting her office had four multiple offer situations the last week of February for homes priced under the median cost. “Open house activity is up and attendees are serious,” Estey reported.
In the Bellevue area east of I-405, the number of closed sales – 22- were identical in both months, but the median sales price of $477,500 in February was a drop from January’s $575,385.
Condo sales also made gains in West Bellevue from January to February. Eight condo sales closed last month in West Bellevue at a median price of $410,000. In January, nine condos closed at a medial sales price of $358,500.
Pending sales also are up for condos in West Bellevue – 11 as of last month compared with eight in January.
In East Bellevue, gains in condo sales prices were even greater. Last month, six condos closed at a median price of $291,750. In January, seven condos closed at a median sales price of $205,000.
There were 14 pending condo sales in East Bellevue both months.
J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, was upbeat about the housing provisions of the stimulus package that was approved in mid-February. “The $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers does not have to be repaid. . . and first time buyers who purchase before April 15 can apply the tax credit to their 2008 tax return,” he said. Scott described the combination of historically low interest rates and increased affordability as “an opportune time for buyers to take a look at purchasing their first home.”
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, who was in Bellevue last week to keynote a Realtor meeting, said he expects buyers will respond to much improved affordability conditions and to the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit. In a statement accompanying NAR’s latest report on pending sales of existing homes, Yun said, “Conditions have been aligning very favorably for home buyers with the exception of consumer confidence. But I am hopeful that sales will turn around by late spring and early summer because history suggests that home sales can rise even in times of job losses when housing affordability rises.”
Yun cautioned it will take a while for the stimulus to show in housing data. From the time a buyer starts looking for a home until it is reported as a closed sale, it can take as long as five months, including time for the search, closing the transaction and reporting the data.
“This means improvement from the economic stimulus isn’t likely to show as closed home sales before summer, although we may see an earlier lift from lower mortgage interest rates,” he said.
