Business

POSTED: Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2008

Whatcom County home sales plummet in August

In what was already a very quiet summer for local real estate, August was especially ugly for sellers.

Only 255 homes and condominiums sold in Whatcom County in August, down 35.9 percent compared to the same time last year, according to data released Tuesday, Sept. 9, by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. In a separate report released Tuesday by Lylene Johnson of The Muljat Group South Office in Fairhaven, single-family home sales in both Bellingham and Whatcom County in August were down 40 percent year over year.

Median prices also dropped. The median price for homes and condos sold in August was $260,500, down from $275,000 in August 2007, according to the NWMLS. The median price for homes and condos sold in July was $265,000.

"When activity is down 40 percent overall, there aren't many price points to look to for relative strength," Johnson said. "I've also seen prices coming down, and we're seeing more short sales and foreclosures sales."

The data from real estate agents is also in line with overall real estate transactions. According to Steve Oliver, Whatcom County treasurer, there were 406 taxable real estate transactions in August, down 40 percent from August 2007.

While the numbers are ugly for potential sellers, there are some silver linings:

? August 2007 is generally considered the last boom month, before the subprime mess and tightening credit began impacting the local market, so the upcoming numbers will be compared to a similar climate, Johnson said.

? Bellingham real estate inventory remains stable, with 684 single-family homes available for sale in mid-August of this year, compared to 679 in mid-August of 2007, Johnson said. That indicates more supply isn't hitting the market, which would drop prices further.

? Also, interest rates have dropped in the days following the government's takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is getting some buyers back into the market, said Jon Hansen of Lakeway Realty.

"We've had a lot of buyers on the fence this summer, but I've been getting a lot more calls the past few days as the fixed interest rate has dropped into the 51/2 percent range," Hansen said. "Cheap money has a way of bringing buyers out of the woodwork."

Even if interest rates stay low, however, August has traditionally been the last month of the home-buying season.

"This is typically when the curve drops off for the rest of the year," Johnson said. "What will be interesting is whether the 30 or 40 percent drops in home sales continue in the coming months, now that we've had a year of this slowdown. If that does happen, we are hitting the meat of the market."

The rest of the Puget Sound area saw similar drops in home sales and prices, according to the NWMLS. Home and condo sales in King County were down 38.3 percent year over year while the median price dropped from $415,000 to $388,350 during the same period. In Skagit County, home and condo sales were down 49.5 percent year over year, with the median price dropping from $280,500 to $254,935.