After a slow spring, the Clark County housing market woke up in May, according to recent housing market reports.
Industry analysts said a rise in new listings helped spur more sales for the month, after slow months in March and April. They said people aiming to sell their homes were able to finally get outdoors, spruce up and put houses on the market.
“Oftentimes when you’re going to put a house on the market, there’s work that needs to be done to maximize the value of the sale of the property,” said Mike Lamb, managing broker at Windermere Stellar Vancouver. “If you’re waiting to get the yard in shape, you’re waiting for the weather to turn around.”
Listings for new homes for sale rose 27 percent from April to May, from 916 to 1,171, according to Portland-based listing service RMLS. Pending sales rose 23 percent, from 790 to 979; closed sales rose 31 percent from 582 to 768.
While May was in fact a busier month this year than last year, the growth could have been a byproduct of slow sales in March and April. Year to date, closed sales are down 3.2 percent, new listings are down 6.2 percent and pending sales are down 7.3 percent, according to the report.
But Terry Wollam, managing broker for ReMax Equity Group in Vancouver, said May was a positive sign.
“I won’t put too much on it, but it’s a reflection of the weather. The weather was just terrible. We saw a pretty good bump in activity for May,” he said.
Despite the watered-down spring, sales for affordable single-family homes have been rapid, Lamb said.
“Those houses are selling within a week, by and large,” he said of homes $350,000 and below. “I have a listing right now in that price range and we have multiple offers on it. It’s been on the market for a week.”
Average time on the market decreased to 44 days in May. Median sale prices of houses inched up from $323,700 in April to $325,000 in May, according to the report. Compared with May 2016, the median price is up 10.9 percent from $293,000.
Inventory, which calculates how long it would take to sell the current stock of houses under market conditions, was listed at 1.6 months, its fastest point since last December.
Wollam said he has also noticed a rise in “contingent offers,” when someone puts a home up for sale while bidding on another home. Only if their bid is accepted do they sell their home, he said.
“There is a lot of activity in that regard, whether it’s someone moving up or down,” he said. “It’s not just someone buying a larger house to fit their family or closer to where they want to be at, it may be they are downsizing into something smaller with less maintenance.”
