Absence of first-time buyer credit had huge impact on Washington home sales
Washington State University researchers have determined a housing trend that most of us could have predicted, that home sales in July through September this year skid to their year's lowest point, reflecting the point right after the federal tax credit for first-time buyers expired.
This came by way of WSU's Center for Real Estate Research, which looked at home sales in the third quarter for Washington's 37 counties. It found:
Statewide sales declined 26.5 percent from the second quarter of the year to 70,550 units. It said that's 20.2 percent below the rate from one year ago.
Glenn Crellin, WCRER director, noted only two counties saw increased sales rates compared to the second quarter, Jefferson and Adams. Only seven had increased sales from a year ago.
The areas showing increases were primarily in rural communities.
Among the urban counties, six of the 16 counties identified as metropolitan had declines of at least 35 percent compared to the second quarter, while only four urban counties reported declines of less than 20 percent.
Spokane did not fare well, either. It had 4750 home sales, a 34.2 percent drop from the previous quarter and 30.6 percent below the same period of 2009. Its median resale price for a home was $181,000, done 5.6 percent from 2009.
The full third quarter data set is here.
The county closest in sales was Clark, which had these numbers: 4,510 third-quarter home sales, which is down 35.8 percent from the second quarter and 31.3 percent from 2009's third quarter. Median resale prices for those homes was $213,000.
