February Puget Sound Single Family Sales Data
King County
The number of closed sales followed normal low seasonal winter trends in King County with 997 sales recorded in February 2010, but that was up 50.8% from February 2009. The good news is that the number of pending sales increased to 2,079 at a pace 91.2% higher than February last year.
However …...the median home price slid to $373,100 influenced by 119 short sales (11.9% of the total sales) with a $315,000 median sales price and 169 Bank Owned sales (17.0% of the total) with a median $238,000 sales price. If the 288 bank owned and short sales were excluded, the median home sales price would have been $394,713 for February.
The sales to listing number was also stable at an indicated 8.1 months inventory level also showing season trends and significantly better than the 14.4 indicated inventory in February 2009. The good news is that the Pending Sales which indicates a continued improved closed sales trend even with the longer closing time frames.
Snohomish County
The number of Pending Sales in Snohomish County jumped to 954 which was up 62.2% from a year ago indicating a significantly improving sales trend. Closed sales followed normal winter trends with 472 sales recorded (averaging 97 days on the market), but still up 53.2% from February 2009. The sales to listing number was fairly stable at an indicated 8.8 months inventory level which was much better than the 14.9 indicated inventory in February 2009. The median home price in Snohomish County was stable at $280,000. The number of active listings at 4,149 was down 9.5% from February 2009 which indicated a trend toward a more balanced buyer/seller market.
There were 103 short sales (21.8% of the total sales), and 55 Bank Owned sales (11.6% of the total) with lower. If these 158 type sales were excluded, the median home sales price would have been $299,950 for February or 7.1% higher. The Short sales were on the market an average of 50 days while the “normal” sales averaged 97 days.
Pierce County
In February the median home price in Pierce County moved up 5.7% compared to January to $219,000 although down 10.6% from one year ago. The number of Pending Sales climbed to 1,055 which was up 29.8% from a year ago indicating an improving sales trend which is much better than last year at this time. Closed sales in February followed normal low seasonal winter trends with 455 sales recorded, but still up 13.8% from February 2009. The sales to listing number was fairly stable at an indicated 11.1 months inventory level again showing seasonal trends although better than the 14.0 indicated inventory in February 2009.
Of the 455 closed sales 47 were short sales (10.3% of the total sales), and 166 were Bank Owned sales (a substantial 36.5% of the total) with lower median $175,000 sales price. If the 213 bank owned and short sales were excluded, the median home sales price would have been $249,885 for February. Interesting to note that the Bank Owned sales were on the market an average of 50 days while the “normal” sales averaged 94 days – and with 436 active Bank Owned listings as of March 9 the indicated inventory is just 2.6 months compared to 11.1 months in aggregate.