Home sales, properties increase in May
Homes in the Spokane market sold briskly in May, with nearly 740 properties changing hands.
The average sales price for a home rose slightly to $159,236. For new homes, the average price was $243,569.
In a break for home buyers, however, the number of new properties on the market rose 18 percent in May.
“We tend to see the inventory increase this time of year, and we certainly need more of it,” said Rob Higgins, executive vice president of the Spokane Association of Realtors.
In recent months, demand for homes and low levels of inventories has led in many cases to multiple offers and bidding wars. The number of homes for sale in the Spokane market has been dropping for about four years, following national trends, Higgins said. May’s inventory of 1,400 homes still ranks far below the 2,400 homes listed on the market in May, 2001.
Through the first five months of the year, more than 2,500 homes have sold in Spokane County. The total sales volume was $417 million through May, compared with $351 million a year ago.
Labor unrest settled at Mexican silver mines
A strike and two-month standoff at two of Hecla Mining Co.’s Mexican silver operations ended peacefully last weekend.
Workers at the Velardena Mill returned to work Friday after a six-month strike. Shortly after, union leaders stopped their illegal blockade of Hecla’s San Sebastian silver mine, which shut down mine operations for two months.
Mill employees will earn higher wages, according to a new agreement brokered by Hecla and union leaders. The governor of the Mexican state of Durango and the country’s secretary of Labor and Social Welfare were also involved in the talks.
“This represents a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” said Ron Clayton, Hecla vice president of North American operations, on Tuesday.
Hecla did not want the standoff to escalate into violence, Clayton said. The company plans to continue operating in Mexico, and wanted to preserve a good relationship with the union, he added.
Ore stockpiled since the strike represents about $8.5 million worth of recoverable silver and gold.
The San Sebastian Mine will close in two or three months, when the mine’s known ore reserves are exhausted. The mill will continue processing the stockpiled ore until early 2006.
Chinese police tighten grip on bootleg videos
Shanghai is cracking down on pirated videos ahead of the city’s international film festival, putting illegal copies of the latest “Stars Wars” movie and TV shows such as “Friends” out of reach — at least for now.
Stores have temporarily closed or boxed up unauthorized DVDs to avoid having them seized in police raids. Sidewalk sellers who peddle copies out of suitcases are also lying low.
“To crack down against the pirate DVDs is our job and duty,” Lan Yiming, deputy head of Shanghai’s culture inspection bureau, said in a telephone interview.
“We want to create a good cultural environment for the international film festival and give guests from home and abroad a good impression,” he said.
The eighth edition of the annual Shanghai International Film Festival — the only one of its kind in China’s vast entertainment market — runs for nine days starting Saturday. It will feature around 200 selections from South Korea, Germany and Japan. Hundreds of exhibitors and film industry professionals are due to attend.