Home sale prices down in June
Despite drop since May, numbers up over last year
June home sale prices in Spokane County showed a narrow summertime dip. It was the kind of month that led Rob Higgins of the Spokane Realtors Association to repeat the recovery mantra: “What we need, obviously, are more people getting jobs.”
Higgins said the data for June show Spokane median home sale prices dropping slightly and the number of units for sale up by about 70 homes, compared with May.
The total number of Spokane single-family homes and condos sold in June came to 449 – only nine more than in May.
Things look a lot better comparing June 2011 to last month, he added. Median home prices rose $3,000 the past 12 months, an increase of 2 percent.
The number of homes on the market since June 2011 also fell by 6 percent, Higgins said.
As is happening nationwide, people or banks are selling homes in foreclosure. About 2.4 percent of the homes on the Spokane market in June were in foreclosure. “That’s the lowest number (for foreclosures being sold) since April 2010.”
Higgins said the economy is still sputtering but the housing market is trying to help. “We’ve come out of the bottom and it’s improving, with interest rates that have never been lower,” he said.
The last piece is that confidence and certainty that people can afford to take on a new mortgage. “That’s where jobs come in,” he said.