Home sales top last year’s pace

Halfway through the year, home sales in Spokane County are outpacing last year’s record-setting rate by 5 percent.

Last year, 3,418 homes had sold in the county by the end of June. This year, by the end of June, 3,591 homes had changed hands, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors.

For the first six months of the year, the average sales price was $157,749, a 12 percent increase over 2004. The median sales price was up 9 percent, at $135,500.

However, pending sales in June dropped when compared with May, which the Realtors Association said may be a sign the record pace is slowing. Only 774 sales were pending at the end of June, compared with 820 at the end of May. And sales in June outpaced the same month last year, but only by nine transactions.

The average sales price for June was $171,073, up 13.5 percent from June 2004.

The inventory of available homes remains about 20 percent below last year’s supply, with only 1,451 active listings in June, compared to 1,766 last June.

For the first half of the year, new-home sales are up 18 percent over the same period last year, with an average sales price of $232,402 last month.

Total dollar volume of homes sold is running 17 percent ahead of last year, at $566 million, compared with $480 million. Last year was the first year more than $1 billion worth of residential real estate was sold in Spokane County, according to the Realtors Association.