New home sales off both locally and nationally

For those still optimistic that the current downturn in the housing market hasn’t affected the Spokane area as hard as it could – a commonly expressed sentiment - consider today’s front-page news about the financial straits of Sullivan Homes Inc., one of the area’s largest homebuilders.

It has filed a petition it state court to sell its assets and pay off some $16.2 million it owes to several local banks, John Stucke reports today. Those assets include 32 homes and 72 building lots, with a combined list price of $20.7 million, Stucke writes .

“They were starting new homes in the fall of last year believing there would be a market this spring,” said Sullivan attorney David Eash. “It did not materialize the way they expected as the whole mortgage and home sales market has just fallen off dramatically.

“The Sullivans, frankly, are the victims of national problems.”

Taking a look at the last monthly report from the Spokane Association of Realtors, we see that 394 new homes sold countywide during the first six months of this year, compared to 591 during the first half of 2007 – a 33 percent decrease.

Looking at national numbers released by the Census Bureau Friday, we see national new home sales declined an estimated 35.5 percent between those periods (check out the full numbers here ).

Obviously, other factors, such as sales prices, time on the market and new housing starts also factor into the health of the local market. What’s your take?