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Best November in six years for local home sales

BY Tom Kelly  on December 5, 2012 @ 1:42 pm (Updated: 9:37 am - 12/6/12 )

Home sold for sale980
A November falloff is typically expected by Northwest real estate brokers, but last month's slowdown was not as severe as expected. (AP Photo)

A November falloff is typically expected by Northwest real estate brokers, but last month's slowdown was not as severe as expected.

In fact, members of Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported 6,522 pending sales last month, the highest total for November in six years.

New figures from the MLS show November pending sales rose 6.9 percent compared to a year ago.

As expected, the volume dropped from October's total of 8,312 pending sales.

Closed sales and selling prices both rose during November versus a year ago, while the selection continued to shrink.

"There continues to be extremely low inventory levels and high buyer demand which is causing multiple offers in many local areas," said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate. He also there was a "definite uptick" in the number of cash buyers, "many of which are investors."

Area-wide, the median sales price on last month's closed sales of single family homes and condominiums was $258,500. Last month's price gains on these closings were led by Jefferson County (up 26.2 percent), Grant County (up 23.5 percent) and King County (up 21.8 percent).

Single family homes sold last month for a median price of $269,000, while condos fetched $185,000.

In King County, single family homes that closed during November commanded the highest price at $385,000 (up 19.7 percent), edging out San Juan County's median selling price of $375,000.

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Tom Kelly has been a professional journalist for 36 years. He served The Seattle Times for 20 years, many as Real Estate Editor.
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Comments (2)


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  • longwayhome wrote...
    republicans won't like this news!
    December 9, 2012 7:28 pm
    Could it mean that the economy is improving? Most of the dunderhead republican posters on this site don't want any good economic news. Unemployment down, home sales up, NO NO NO! Tell us it's not true! That's not what faux news told me!
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  • Realitycheck wrote...
    longwayhome
    December 10, 2012 7:25 pm
    Uhmm, unemployment is not down, don't even start, just because people can't get unemployment money anymore does not make them magically employed overnight. The Real Estate market is a total mess, flooded with short sales that keep many sellers from listing their homes creating an artificial shortage. Banks caused all this mess and they are still screwing with everybody, especially the naive people that actually believe doing the work for the bank (by doing a short sale) will allow them to buy earlier. Yeah I know, on paper it is suppose to, in reality......well, they will find out themselves.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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