Spokane home prices up modestly in April

Spokane home sales continued pushing slowly upward, producing a 3.3 percent price bump in April, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors.

That modest increase follows tepid sales numbers in February and March, said Rob Higgins, executive director of the association.

“It’s a very modest improvement, and it reflects what I see happening for the whole year,” Higgins said.

Sales of homes on lots of less than one acre increased 14 percent, from 384 in March to 439 in April.

April’s median sales price climbed to $169,296, up 3 percent from $163,950 in March, the association reported. That’s also up from the April 2013 median price of $160,299.

Comparing the first four months of 2014 with those from 2013 also tells the same story. The average sales price of a Spokane home this year is $177,390, up 3 percent from $171,583 in the same period of 2013. The median sales price this year is $162,000, up 1.8 percent compared with $159,000 from the first four months of 2013.

Higgins said the bright spot during April was a drop in the number of distressed home sales – either foreclosures or short sales where owners agree to sell for less than their mortgage.

In April 2013, distressed sales were 22.6 percent of homes sold. This past April, it was 15.2 percent.

Notably, the number of homes on the market in April – 2,523 – was nearly identical to the 2,528 of April 2013.

Sales of newly constructed homes have lagged behind those a year earlier.

So far during 2014, 177 new homes have sold in Spokane County. During the first four months of 2013, the total was 208, Higgins said.