Clark County Housing Market Update
(You won’t read THIS in the paper)
April 2019
Buyer Activity: Buyer activity levels are running around 3,900 lockbox openings per week in April. I like to compare this with the same period last year when the market was pretty hot but not overly hot (in my opinion). Last year we had openings running around 4,400 per week. So we are about 500 openings below where we were a year ago or down about 10%.
Price Reductions: The number of price reductions was as high as 1439 last August. In February price reductions were at 637. The past 30 days they increased to 791. That is a modest 8% increase.
The Average Price: The past 2 months the average price of a home has remained pretty much the same.
Marketing time: Market time was unchanged from last month, 72 days.
Inventory Levels: The past 3 months we have seen inventory levels slide from 3.2 to 2.9 to 2.4. This is an overall snapshot of the market although it is based on solds so it is about 45 day old data.
Listing Count: We started the year with much higher inventory than one year ago. Our inventory is at just over 1500 listings when last year it was at just over 1,000, an increase of around 50%.
Pending Sales: Our pending sales are surging just slightly ahead of our new listings which is the reason our inventory numbers are staying under control. If buyer activity becomes reduced then conditions could change quickly.
What price ranges are most affected by the market changes?
Inventory (Inventory=months needed to sell all existing homes at the current rate of sales.) Data gathered April 24 (so it is current data.)
Price Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Febr April
2-300,000 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.6 1.3 1.1 1.1 .7
3-500,000 2.1 2.3 2.6 2.6 2.7 3.0 2.8 2
5-700,000 4 3.2 5.2 4.8 5.2 7.3 5.1 4.7
7-1,000,000 5.7 7.7 7 8.6 9.4 7.8 10.2 7.2
It appears that all price ranges are showing some modest improvement or better. That is very good news. If there is a slowdown then it should normally start in the upper price ranges and work down. Homes priced from $7-1,000,000 were last this high in October. The homes $5-700,000 was last this high in September. The homes below $500,000 are nearly sold out as the inventory levels are very low.
Just yesterday (April 23rd) I wrote an offer on a $350,000 newer listing. It had zero offers on it that morning but by the end of the day it had 5 offers on it.
Conclusion: Despite a growing number of listings, pending sales and inventory levels suggest that buyers are stepping up to the plate and buying faster than listings are increasing. This surge in listings is a good thing as it is apt to preserve a stable market and keep things from getting too terribly hot. But so far the pressure is still on the buyers especially in price ranges below $500,000. And for homes above $500,000 sellers can be assured the market still looks stable with a market closer to neutral conditions.
Kelsey Family Farm
From a recent posting of “Lily Comes to the Farm”.
Spring Farmer’s Market
SPRING FARMER’S MARKET, Mother’s Day weekend, May 11 &12. We’ll have our woolens, yarn, sheepskins, Wake the Rooster Coffee, walking sticks, varied gourds grown here on the farm, herb planters, veggie starts, eggs, compost, and composting bins. We’ll have educational permaculture and organic gardening displays. And you’ll see progress on our big composting project, a joint venture with New Seasons with the support of a grant from Tilth Alliance. We are hoping lots of moms will be out and about that weekend and will have specials treats for them! We are rounding up other vendors now so let us know if you have any ideas!
Kelsey Family Farm is a project by Jonell Kelsey. Stories are posted on line at kelseyfamilyfarm.com as well as inside the egg cartons at the New Seasons store in Vancouver only. We also supply eggs to quality eating establishments: Barrel Mountain Brewery in Battle Ground and C’est La Vie in Hazel Dell.
Chris Kelsey, Managing Broker
GRI, MBA
Keeping you informed so
You can make decisions.
Keller Williams Premier Partners
Cell: 360-921-2203
chris@ckelsey.com
www.ckelsey.com