KIRKLAND, Wash. (Jan. 5, 2007) - December brought few surprises in housing activity around western Washington as buyers, sellers and members of Northwest Multiple Listing Service turned their attention to holidays. The storyline of recent months continued with brokers reporting growing inventory, fewer sales and rising prices.

In between shopping and severe storms, Northwest MLS notched 5,744 pending sales last month and added 5,357 new listings to inventory. December’s pending sales of single family homes and condominiums (combined) fell 9.8 percent from the same month a year ago. Of those transactions, condo sales improved on year-ago totals, rising 5.3 percent, but single family homes slipped by about 12.5 percent.

At month-end, prospective buyers could choose from 28,307 properties offered for sale across 19 counties. That’s up more than 37 percent from a year ago when there were 20,595 listings system-wide.

Every county has more inventory than 12 months ago – and higher asking prices.

Sales prices also jumped from a year ago. The median price for sales of single family homes and condominiums that closed during December was $315,000, up about 9.4 percent from twelve months ago when the median sales price was $288,000.

For single family homes only (excluding condos) the area-wide sales price was $330,000, up $29,000 (9.6 percent) from a year ago, but a $1,000 less than November’s median sales price.

Condo prices rose more sharply, climbing to $240,000 for last month’s completed transactions. That’s up 14.6 percent from December 2005 when the median selling price was $209,450. In November the area-wide median sales price for condos that sold was $249,900.

In King County, the median sales price for last month’s closed sales of single family homes (only) was $440,000, up about 12 percent from a year ago. Condo prices in King County jumped 21 percent, rising to nearly $270,000 from the year-ago median selling price of about $223,000.00.

Referrals are a “very” important part of my business. Please let me know of anyone that you know who may be considering Buying or Selling real estate – or please give them my name and contact information!

Thank You!  Bob Chapman 

4-COUNTY PUGET SOUND REGION PENDING SALES (SFH + Condo combined) (totals include King, Snohomish, Pierce & Kitsap counties)
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2000	3706	4778	5903	5116	5490	5079	4928	5432	4569	4675	4126	3166
2001	4334	5056	5722	5399	5631	5568	5434	5544	4040	4387	4155	3430
2002	4293	4735	5569	5436	6131	5212	5525	6215	5394	5777	4966	4153
2003	4746	5290	6889	6837	7148	7202	7673	7135	6698	6552	4904	4454
2004	4521	6284	8073	7910	7888	8186	7583	7464	6984	6761	6228	5195
2005	5426	6833	8801	8420	8610	8896	8207	8784	7561	7157	6188	4837
2006	5275	6032	8174	7651	8411	8094	7121	7692	6216	6403	5292	4346