Clark County home sales took a big jump in November, up more than 66 percent from the same month a year ago. But higher sales last month went hand in hand with foreclosures and short sales, which pushed prices lower, said a Monday report.
Bargains have begun to entice home buyers into the market, say local real estate experts. Some also credit the government for its role in stabilizing and stimulating the housing market with an expanded tax credit for home buyers — eligible if they sign by April 30. Others say ultra-low mortgage rates below 5 percent are a help.
“If you can lock in your interest rate at below 5 percent, that’s going to hedge against the inflation that we think is coming,” said Gene Thompson, broker and owner of Equity Northwest Properties in Vancouver.
In Clark County, the median price was $199,950 for the 529 new and preowned homes sold last month, the first time the median fell below $200,000 in nearly five years, reported “benchmarks,” a tracking service of Vancouver-based appraisal firm Riley & Marks. February 2005 was last time the median price was below $200,000 in Clark County, when prices hit $198,129.
Lower-priced condominium and starter-home sales are also driving down housing prices, along with short sales, in which the bank lender allows the home to sell for less than is owed on the mortgage. It’s often the only way out for homeowners struggling with bumped up, adjustable rate mortgages or reduced household incomes.
“It’s really connected to employment,” said Dick Riley, co-owner of Riley & Marks.
November’s 529 home sales represented a 66.4 percent increase in sales from the same month last year, when 318 homes were sold in Clark County. Fifty of those sales were condominium units, at a median price of $135,000.
With the fifth-highest rate of foreclosure statewide in November, Clark County’s housing market has also been hit by “a surge of bank-owned homes at reduced rates,” said Lyn Schubel, a Realtor and assistant manager of Re/Max Equity Group in Vancouver.
Schubel said an $8,000 federal first-time buyers tax credit and a new $6,500 tax credit to move-up buyers are also increasing sales.
“Homes with price tags between $150,000 and $250,000 are moving quite rapidly,” he said.
At the same time, Schubel said few high-end homes, in the $500,000 to $1 million range, are selling. Those that have sold were priced at up to 40 percent less than at the height of the home-selling market in 2006 and 2007.
“We don’t know if we’ve hit the bottom yet, but we’re close,” said Thompson, of Equity Northwest Properties.
In the meantime, he said price reductions continue to shock Clark County home sellers who are reluctant to adjust their asking prices, despite the falling market.
“It’s hard for them to get a grasp of this new market we’re in,” Thompson said.
He called home pricing and staging critical strategies for sellers.
“If buyers don’t see what they want they are moving on more quickly,” he said.
That could be because buyers are anxious to lock in at low mortgage interest rates, expected to hold steady through the first three months of 2010.
“The interest rate is the key issue with these prices,” Thompson said.
Other home sellers say they are encouraged by the steady year-over-year gains in Clark County home sales each month since July.
“I wouldn’t say our market is healthy, but it is improving,” said Scott Mikel, a broker with Scott Mikel & Associates Inc. in Vancouver.
He said stabilizing Clark County’s housing market would depend on clearing out foreclosures, estimated to effect one out of every 718 houses in the county.
“Those are the casualties of high supply and low demand. When you see short sales, foreclosures and builders unloading homes because can’t make their payments, then we have too much inventory,” Mikel said.
