Business - Dave Gallagher

POSTED: Sunday, Jun. 07, 2009

New report gets to the nitty-gritty of Whatcom County real estate

Last year was a time of significant change in the local housing market, and now there's a comprehensive report showing what happened.

Earlier this month the 31st volume of Whatcom County Real Estate Research Report was released, providing a wide variety of data, from building permit activity to home sales to commercial vacancy rates.

The most significant number that jumped out was the median single family home price, which dropped 4.2 percent last year to $278,533. It's the first year-over-year drop since 1985.

"While prices finally declined, the decline in 2008 was relatively modest. Some people might have expected larger declines both because of the large declines experienced in many other markets and because prices are high in Bellingham relative to household income," said Julia Hansen in an e-mail. Hansen is the editor of the 138-page report and an economics professor at Western Washington University.

For number junkies, there is plenty in the report to wade through. Here are some highlights:

Building permits: The most surprising statistic for Hansen was how well single-family home permits held up in unincorporated Whatcom County compared to Bellingham permits in 2008. While single family permits declined a whopping 55 percent in Bellingham, the number in unincorporated Whatcom County was down only 20 percent.

Vacancy rates: This year's report has much more detail when it comes to office, commercial and industrial vacancy rates. The researchers went with a different method that is more accurate than in previous reports, Hansen said. The only downside is it's not comparable to the previous years. In this year's report, which made the measurements on April 1, 2009, Whatcom County had vacancy rates of 4.4 percent in office, 4.9 percent in commercial and 4.4 percent in industrial.

In downtown Bellingham, which has 2.3 million square feet of commercial space, the vacancy rate was 2.3 percent, while the office vacancy rate was 6.4 percent. In the Meridian corridor, which has 1.6 million square feet of commercial space, there was a 17.5 percent vacancy rate. That vacancy rate includes Joe's sporting goods, which had a liquidation sale this spring.

Home sale distribution: In 2008 there were 20 homes that sold for more than $1 million, down from 38 in 2007. Last year the most popular price range was between $226,000 and $250,000, where there were 291 home sales. That's down from 407 in 2007. At the bottom end of the price ranges, there were 142 homes that sold for less than $150,000, which is up from 138 in 2007.

To look at the full report, go to wcrer.org and download the subscription form. The cost is $25 for an individual subscription. If you have questions, call Adoline Brown at Chicago Title Insurance Co. at 734-7000.