Large Inventory Of Homes For Sale A Boon For Buyers

June was a better time for the Valley home buyer than it was for the seller.

This year’s heavy market activity fueled by low interest rates slowed last month, leaving a bigger inventory of Valley homes. That means choices were abundant for those looking at homes, and buyers had to make the deals a little sweeter to clinch a sale.

“Sellers had to make more concessions,” said Tony Higley, owner of Certified Appraisal. “There’s a lot of inventory, so there’s a lot of selection from the buyer’s standpoint.”

Last month, 109 Valley homes sold for an average price of $119,152. Of those closings, 28 homes were new.

Those figures are down from May, when 121 Valley homes were sold at an average price of $124,956. Of those, 37 were new.

June beat May, though, when it came to wait times - it took an average of 67 days to sell a home in June, while it took an average of 94 in May.

That may be due to greater concessions by sellers last month, making the homes that did sell go quicker. But sometimes, a few isolated extra-long market times throw averages off.

Don Walker of the Spokane Association of Realtors said interest rates were still relatively low, hanging in the low 8 percent range. But in previous months, rates had been in the even more attractive 7 percent range.

Walker’s guess on the market slowdown? The weather. “We didn’t have much weather until lately, so maybe people need to catch up with their lives.”

If that means Valleyites are spending more time on the golf course, it should be no surprise. Subdivision homes in recreation-ready places like MeadowWood are growing in popularity.

The Valley is known for two major types of residential real estate; big acreages and increasingly these days, new subdivisions. Higley said in his experience, market slow-downs here hit the former the hardest, simply because of price.

“When demand backs off, it probably hits the larger lots and acreages harder than it does residential subdivisions,” he said.

Compared with other areas of the county, Valley homes continue to be the second-most valuable properties on average. The South Hill continues to lead, with average sale prices in June of $134,734.

Bella Vista expansion continues

The final phases of the Bella Vista neighborhood should be constructed and sold in about two years, said Corlene Martin of Janek Co., the company marketing the new homes.

Of the planned total of 48 homes making up the Bella Vista Heights and Skyview Ridge Estates additions, 21 lots are still available. The available spaces will sell for an average of $275,000, Martin said.

Thirteen homes have already been completed and moved into there. “We have sold, in the last six months, seven ranging from $275,000 to $400,000,” Martin said.

Half of the homes are ranch-style, the other half are two-story. Some of the homes offer private, rural views overlooking pasture land and lots as large as 27,000 square feet.

“There are a couple of lots there where you’d think you were in the forest, you wouldn’t even know you had a neighbor,” Martin said.

, DataTimes