Local homeseekers don’t take a vacation break

Vacations and hot days have not curtailed local home sales.

In fact, according to the latest statistics from the Northwest Multiple Listing Association, pending sales activity has not been more heated since 2005.

For single family homes only (excluding condos) in King County, the median selling price for sales that closed during May was $500,000, an increase of 10.3 percent from the year-ago figure of $453,500.

“Educated buyers today are no longer just dipping their toes in the water. They are diving right in,” said Mike Gain, CEO and president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate. In a NWMLS release, Gain said in his 38 years in the industry he’s never seen a market as complex as the current one.

“It’s been challenging for everyone involved in a real estate transaction, whether buyer, seller or agent.”

The challenges continue to center on a lack of inventory and law appraisals.

Brokers added 11,581 new listings to inventory during June, about the same number as a year ago (11,541), but pending sales outgained the same month last year by nearly 16 percent, depleting the selection. At the end of June, the number of active listings across the 23 counties in the MLS report totaled 20,333. That compares to 25,342 for the same month a year ago for a drop of 19.8 percent.

Low appraisals are a big challenge, according to Dick Beeson, principal managing broker at RE/MAX Professionals in Tacoma. Other MLS brokers agreed.

“Kitsap is also beginning to see a higher incidence of low appraisals,” said MLS director Frank Wilson.