Realtors are crediting the tax credit and its impending expiration deadline for a surge in home sales last month. Members of Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported a 63 percent jump in pending sales during October compared to the same month a year ago, a gain many brokers attribute to a tax credit that is set to expire at midnight on Nov. 30.
Every county except Okanogan reported double-digit gains in pending sales (mutual acceptance of an offer). Collectively, NWMLS brokers notched 7,235 pending sales during October. A year ago, they reported 4,445 pending transactions.
“As anticipated, October saw a surge in home sales thanks to the federal tax credit. The hope of the real estate industry is that the credit will be extended until there is more equilibrium within the economy and the housing market can stand on its own two feet,” said J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate.
The increase in pending and closed sales for single family homes and condos was reflected throughout Bellevue.
In the area west of I-405, there were 62 pending sales in October, compared with 39 for the same month last year. There were 54 closed sales last month, up from 27 a year ago.
In the area east of I-405, pending sales totaled 87 in October, up from 64 in the same month last year. There were 89 closed sales east of I-405 last month, up from 70 a year ago.
The new figures from Northwest MLS show continued signs of some stability in the market and improving consumer confidence, Realtors say. Inventory is at its lowest level since December 2008, and the year-over-year price decline, at 7.2 percent area-wide, is the smallest drop since June 2008.
In west Bellevue, there were 481 single family homes or condos on the market in October, down from 529 the same month a year ago.
In east Bellevue, 414 single family homes or condos were on the market last month, down from 444 in October, 2008.
The median price for closed sales of single family homes or condos in West Bellevue was $782,000 in October, up from $588,888 in September 2009 and up from $610,000 for October 2008.
For single family homes only, the median price for closed sales in West Bellevue was $908,000 in October 2009, up from $900,000 in September 2009 but down from $1,042,500 in October 2008.
In East Bellevue, the median price for single family homes or condos was $435,000 in October 2009, up from $399,500 in September 2009, but down from $467,277 in October 2008.
In East Bellevue, the median price for a single family home only was $490,000 in October 2009, up from $442,500 in September 2009, but down from $539,250 in October 2008.
NWMLS director Kathy Estey, managing broker at John L. Scott’s Bellevue office, cites a combination of factors for boosting activity, including the tax credit, stabilizing prices for entry level homes and diminished inventory.
“Sales are not just fueled by the first-time buyer stimulus,” she said, noting it prompted procrastinators to jump into the market and others to bail out of short sales that had not yet been accepted by lenders, opting instead to purchase homes that are not in the “distressed” categories.
“The fourth quarter is one of the best times for buyers, so we expect the positive activity to continue,” Estey remarked, noting sales in her office were up again in October, “a month when we expect to see a slight decline.”
Estey credits soft prices for contributing to the uptick in sales for homes priced at a million dollars or more. Her office participated in 10 sales priced at over a million dollars last month, calling that volume a “great improvement” from earlier in the year. In King County, 86 homes and condos fetched prices of $1 million or more, up from the year-ago total of 62 such transactions, according to NWMLS data.
“The compression of prices has created great values in that price range, the stock market has replaced much of what was previously lost, and there is reasonable financing for jumbo loans (20 percent or more down and good credit required),” Estey observed.
Some builders are offering to pay the stimulus dollars to buyers who will miss the opportunity because the homes will not be completed by the expiration date of the existing tax credit, according to Estey.
Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member brokers, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest.
