May sales of Clark County houses were much higher than one year ago, reflecting a last-minute frenzy by buyers eager to use federal tax credits.
Most of the 583 new and existing home sales that closed in May actually were under contract before then, as buyers raced to sign an earnest money agreement by April 30, the government’s deadline. Any such contracts now have until June 30 to close in order for buyers to receive the credit, an $8,000 write-off for first-time home buyers and $6,500 for move-up homeowners selling a primary residence. Congress may extend the closing deadline to Sept. 30.
May home sales represent a 42.2 percent increase from the 410 houses sold in May 2009 and were slightly less — just 15 fewer houses sold — than in April, according to the “benchmarks” report issued Wednesday by the Vancouver-based Riley & Marks appraisal firm.
But because of the lag time between deal and closing, the May home sales numbers don’t give a clear picture of what the market will be now that the tax credits have expired.
“The average sale takes over 45 days to close. So, when you’re looking at the May numbers, the transactions happened in March or early April,” said Mike Lamb, a real estate broker who works for Windermere/Stellar Group in Vancouver.
Home sales in May also were bolstered by historically low interest rates and softening home prices. At $205,000, the median price of all homes sold — half sold for more, half for less — was down by 2.4 percent from May 2009.
Lamb suggested home prices may have bottomed because the supply is starting to dwindle.
In May, there were 6.6 months worth of houses listed for sale, according to the Portland-based RMLS listing service. It was unchanged from April, and down from May 2009, when market inventory reached an 11.1-month supply.
In May, far more pre-owned homes exchanged hands than new houses were sold, according to benchmarks, which counts every sale recorded through the Clark County Courthouse, including for-sale-by-owner transactions.
There were 71 newly built houses sold last month, compared with 512 existing home sales, including short-sale and bank-owned transactions.
“I’m relatively optimistic,” Lamb said. “The difference from a year ago is there’s a lot less pessimism. I’m hearing a lot more people talking about investment buying.”
