UW stats reveal improving home sale figures

Washington state’s housing market continued to improve during the second quarter of 2012 despite a slight drop in existing home sales, according to the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington.

Existing home sales during the second quarter of 2012 increased 10.4 percent compared with a year ago, however the seasonally adjusted annual rate dropped 2.6 percent from the first quarter.

“The market is clearly stronger than a year ago, but it eased off a bit compared with the pace we saw in the first quarter,” said Glenn Crellin, associate director of the center. “We always see actual sales numbers increase between the first and second quarter, but this year that increase was less than typical. As a result, the seasonally adjusted annual rate declined compared with what we were observing during the first quarter.”

Evidence of the improvement, Crellin said, is seen in the $236,000 second quarter median sales price of homes statewide, which is a 4 percent increase over 2011. The median price in King County, meanwhile, surged 6.5 percent to $370,800, the highest median price in the state.

The number of homes on the market also declined and buyers looking to take advantage of low interest rates are bidding up the prices of move-in-ready homes, Crellin said. Distressed properties represented a smaller share of the total in the second quarter, also contributing to the price increase.

Sales, median home prices and affordability data for each of Washington’s 39 counties are available at the Runstad Center’s website.