Valley Avoids Worst Of Home-Sales Slump
Although home sales saw a big county-wide slip in September, the flow of Valley homes dropped only slightly.
Compared with August, September saw a 127-property decline in Spokane County closings. But Valley sales dropped by only a few, from 138 homes to 134.
Prices, however, were up. The average Valley sale price in September was $120,218. August’s average was $115,169, and July homes fetched an average of $119,826.
Prices during all three of those months beat those of September 1994. The average Valley home sale price then was just $114,418 - and that was a 10 percent jump over the August 1994 price.
Still, the overall county drop surprised some.
”(County-wide) sales dropped more than I thought they would,” said Don Walker of the Spokane Association of Realtors. Walker said it was surprising because interest rates have dropped, and the number of houses on the market grew.
But real estate companies say the Valley fared pretty well, and that a small sales dip is expected once school starts. Families are less likely to move if they have to pull children from schools after classes have begun.
“Once kids are back in school, things slow down,” said Bob Krafft, an associate broker with Windermere Real Estate.
Nonetheless, Krafft said the overall scene is positive. “I think we were doing very well,” he said. “In the last three months, I’ve been more busy than I was during the first six.”
One thing September had in its favor was low interest rates. Krafft said rates were in the high-8s and low-9s during spring and early summer, and for most of September they stayed around 7.5 and 7.75 percent. He said that, combined with September’s dip in sales, actually made for a pretty favorable buying environment - the inventory of homes was large, and rates stayed low.
Krafft said he also noticed a resurgence in the sale of existing homes. Much of the July/ August boom had been attributed to new construction.
Dave Nerren, a real estate broker with Tomlinson Black Valley, said most areas here were on an “even keel” with one another. No particular part of the Valley jumped out as a clear sales leader.
As for the September sales dip, Nerren said a lot of it just has to do with weather. When temperatures drop, so will sales.
“I’ve been doing this long enough to see that weather plays a role, and it’s been awfully cold and rainy,” Nerren said. “On the positive side, things look better than last year.”
, DataTimes