Greetings Valued Clients,

As we approach the end of summer I know everyone is trying to squeeze in those last minute family vacations while at the same time starting to prepare for fall and the start of school.  While we got a late start to summer the local real estate market continues to avoid all the despair and bad news that other areas in the nation are experiencing.  I hope you are busy enjoying this time of year with family and friends and I trust this quick update will keep you abreast of the Spokane market! 

Market Activity

July Activity as reported by the Spokane Association of Realtors reported sales down 6  units as compared to June's Activity.  Closed sales for the month were 586 units while pending sales for the month totalled 544 units.  During July the average sales price was $221,658 and the median price was $190,285 with the average being up as compared to June's average of $216,454 and the median price being down as compared to June's median price of $193,000.  Year to date closed sales through July 2008 totaled 2,980 units, compared to year to date sales through July 2007 of 4,174 units.  This 1,194 unit difference represents a 28.6% decrease in closed sales year over year.   Pending sales year to date through July 2008 of 3,161 units is down 1,130 units compared to pending sales year to date through July 2007.   This represents a 26.3% decrease in pending units year over year.  We continue to close the gap in regards to units sold YTD versus YTD 2007 sales. 

Spokane Inventory for the month of July stood at 3,456 units, which is up 34 units compared to June 2008.  In comparison to this time last year Inventory is up approximately 11% which is 345 units.  In July we actually saw a slight increase in our absorption rate  which increased to 16% from May's absorption rate of 15%.  While this may not seem significant, it is just another indicator of our stable local market.  For the last 4 to 6 months we have seen absorption rates remain consistently in the to 14% to 16% range.  With a stable absorption rate and a smaller increase in inventory levels our months of inventory on the market decreased in July to 6.35 months.    

When months of inventory are above the 6 month supply the market is considered a buyer's market.  Buyers have many properties to choose from and thus have an advantage when negotiating with sellers.  When inventory levels are between 3 to 6 months the market is considered neutral, where neither the buyer or the seller has an advantage.  Under 3 months is considered a sellers market, where sellers have an edge over buyers. 

During July while median price leveled off, we again continued to see an increase in the average sales price here in Spokane.  Historically, July is the month where we experience the highest prices of the year and 2008 is no exception.  So while we continue to lag behind last years pace in both sold and pending units our level of inventory increase versus last year has slowed and we once again continue to hold our valuations.  Our local Spokane market continues to see price appreciation.  Our YTD average price of $209,092 is only down 1.33% compared to the total year average in 2007 of $211,909 and our YTD median price of $185,830 is only down .23% versus the 2007 median price of $185,400.  

As we have always said here at the Spokane Real Estate Advisor real estate is local and to take that a step further both buyer and sellers need to fully understand the market in their specific area of Spokane (Valley, South, North, West) and in the specific price range they are looking for or competing against.  To assist you in this education process enclosed is the market analysis for July.

Commentary

We seemed to have survived the dog days of summer and as many of you already know the fall here in the great Pacific Northwest cannot be beat.  The stock market is inching it's way back, gas and oil prices have started to come back to earth and even nationally the real estate market is seeing some positive trends.  No one is saying these tough times are over however, the storm seems to be more of a rainfall and the rainbow is starting to take shape.

If you would like a more in depth discussion of the market and how you can benefit in the current conditions please contact me.  I look forward to earning your trust, respect and business! 

Regards,

John Creighton
Spokane Real Estate Advisor
(509) 979-2535

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