Fifteen homes were sold in Anacortes in May, compared to 13 homes sold in April. But, still not as many as a year earlier, when there were 34 sold. May is usually the month of highest numbers of sales in Anacortes.
The average price for homes sold in May was $355,837, down from May of 2008, when the average price was $388,035. That’s about a 9 % drop. The dominance of the under-$300,000 sales has shifted up and we’re seeing more activity up to $500,000, but it stops over that price.
One year ago, not only were there twice as many sales, but there were an equal number of homes sold above and below the $400,000 figure. This May only 20% were above.
There are 393 homes currently listed for sale in Anacortes, very high for this time of year. With 15 being sold in a month, this says we have 26 months of inventory on the shelves.
Good news, pending sales are up, 26 at the end of May and what’s even better is that over 60% of them are over $300,000. Average pending price is $367,800 down from the $430,000 in April, but only 1 pending home over $500,000. This is promising as it is close to the 2008 numbers, when we saw over 27 pending sales at the same time last year. But to put that into prospective, in ‘07 there were 51 pendings. Last year just was not a good year.
What is interesting is that the sold homes market time for this year is the same as it was last year, 127 days (average of 129 for the last 4 years), which goes to show that the homes typically sell in a 3 month period, “when they are priced right.” The under $300,000 price range is selling and as that innovatory shrinks, it will put pressure up the ladder. With interest rates going up, home shoppers might want to get moving to lock in a purchase. There are plenty of homes to choose from and mortgage rates are still good.
Meanwhile, interest rates are rising, but still good. The national average for a 30-year fixed rate loan is running at 5.35%. Still good in the loan department are jumbo loans, which are down, with 5-year adjustable rates at 5.1%. We have seen continued improvement in the stock market, even with GM filing bankruptcy, and consumer confidence seams to be improving.
Curt Oppel is a Realtor with John L Scott Real Estate Anacortes.