More homes in Washington sell, but prices lower

Home sales in Washington are inching upward this year compared to 2010, but the average sale price continues to fall, according to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, run by Washington State University.

Home sales in the third quarter of 2011 throughout Washington increased in comparison to the previous quarter and the same time a year ago.

Since January this year, statewide sales are up 0.8 percent at seasonally adjusted annual rates, to 85,870 units. That rate is 21.7 percent above the year-ago rate, which was artificially depressed after the expiration of the home purchase tax credit, said Glenn Crellin, director of the WSU state research center.

The statewide median sales price during the third quarter was $225,300, 9.5 percent below the median from one year earlier.

That marks the largest median price decline in a quarter since a 13.7 percent drop in the first quarter of 2009. Sale prices measured against one year earlier have dropped for the last 15 quarters, with the statewide median now below the level of 2004’s third quarter, according to Crellin’s data.

In terms of price changes, the largest increase in median prices from last year was 61.8 percent in Lincoln County. The largest drop, 68.8 percent, was in Wahkiakum County.

Tom Sowa