With buyers encouraged by a federal tax credit that expired in April, Clark County home sales grew by 61.2 percent last month, a burst of activity some real estate agents expect to hold steady through summer.
There were 598 houses sold here in April, 227 more transactions than the 371 home sales in the same month last year, according to the “benchmarks” report, released Wednesday by Vancouver-based Riley & Marks appraisal firm. April was the eighth consecutive month that sales were higher than the same month a year ago.
Home prices in April, however, continued to soften, bogged down by a flood of bargain-priced foreclosure and short-sale properties. Foreclosures are owned by the bank and sold to the highest bidder. Short sale properties are sold by upside-down borrowers who negotiate to sell for less than they owe on the mortgage.
Clark County’s median sale price — half sold for more, half for less — in April was $205,500, a decrease of 5.8 percent when compared with the median of $218,250 one year ago. In some cases, sellers refused to let go of the notion that their homes were still worth the values assessed during the housing boom that ended in 2007, said Jerry Rolling, a sales agent with Keller Williams Realty in Vancouver. As they held out for a higher sales price, values continued to erode.
“So many people lost so much because they wouldn’t price it right,” he said.
Despite the tax credit’s April 30 expiration date, Rolling and other real estate agents expect local home sales to continue posting high totals through the June, typically the busiest time of the year for residential sales, because supply is shrinking and demand remains strong as the economy improves.
To get the 2010 federal tax credit, buyers had to sign a contract to purchase by April 30 and close by June 30. The federal tax credit added up to an $8,000 write-off for first-time buyers and $6,500 for move-up homeowners who were selling a primary residence.
But Rolling also pointed out that the sales recorded and tallied up in April were actually negotiated in March.
“The next two months of statistics will reflect the tax credit,” he said.
Other factors
The stimulus program isn’t the only factor driving sales. Local real estate agents also attribute the increased activity to low interest rates on mortgages and the perception of bargain prices, as property prices continue to fall.
“Compared with April, it’s going to slow down, but it will remain steady because the economy has stabilized a bit,” said Tracie DeMars, a Realtor with Re/Max Equity Group Inc. in Vancouver.
Rolling said that conditions could improve for home sellers in the coming months, if banks continue to work with troubled homeowners. The federal government’s new foreclosure prevention program has been credited for pushing foreclosure rates down across the nation.
Highest foreclosure rate
In Clark County, the foreclosure rate dropped 9.1 percent in April. However, with one out of every 368 households in some stage of foreclosure, the county still represented the highest rate of foreclosure out of Washington’s 39 counties, California database company RealtyTrac reported this month.
Banks also are waiting longer to list residential holdings, renting the properties or letting the sites remain vacant, real estate agents said.
“The buzz on the street is that the banks are holding back on the homes they’ve got for sale. They don’t want to depress the market any further,” Rolling said.
Other agents are hopeful that increased April sales are actually driving home values up, said Don Humphrey, an associate broker with Century 21 Cascade Pacific in Vancouver.
“Since so many houses sold in April, there is going to be less inventory out there and more demand. We expect to be very busy right through the end of the summer,” he said.
