A modest drop in home sales and prices in Clallam County bucked a statewide downward trend in the market — if you believe one set of figures.
Nearly every county in the state — including those of the North Olympic Peninsula — saw home sales and prices fall in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University.
But the center said that the drop was far less in Clallam County, where home sales fell by 7.7 percent from the same time a year earlier, than in Jefferson County.
In Jefferson County, sales of existing homes dropped by 27.8 percent last quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2007.
It was just a shade better than the average drop statewide — 29.1 percent.
But two brokers said that the center’s data are inaccurate, and show too sunny a picture of Clallam County, at least in Port Angeles and Sequim.
According to the WSU data, there were 840 homes sold in Clallam County and 360 homes sold in Jefferson County in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The center also said that in Clallam County, median sale prices fell 1.1 percent, with an average price of $222,600, while the median sale price fell 13.1 percent in Jefferson County, with an average price of $295,500.
Different statistics
Doc Reiss, associate broker at Windermere Real Estate and publisher of a monthly newsletter on the Port Angeles real estate market questioned the statistics released by the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, because it was his understanding they were based on Multiple Listing Service and left out the Olympic Listing Service.
Reiss and Quint Boe, designated broker at Windermere Real Estate in Port Angeles, provided their own real estate data on the Port Angeles and Sequim markets.
That showed a 10 percent drop in the median price, and a 21 percent decrease in units sold in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the fourth quarter of 2007.
The median price in the dual-city market fell from $259,000 to $234,375. The number of units sold fell from 179 to 142.
As of last month, the average Port Angeles home was on the market for 150 days, compared to 127 days for the same time last year.
The number of sales fell 31 percent to 295 in the Port Angeles market in 2008, according to Reiss’ figures.
The average inventory in Port Angeles is 13.3 months. A seven-month supply is considered balanced.
Jefferson County
Barbara Bogart of Windermere Real Estate in Port Townsend said that, in Jefferson County, the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University figures sounded right to her.
“It’s as quiet as I’ve ever seen it,” Bogart said.
“It’s a combination of the stock market and the bailout. Everybody’s just watching that and waiting before for making their decisions.”
A realtor since 1987, Bogart said the market slowed considerably in the early 1990s, but that it wasn’t as gloomy then as it is today.
She said that the Port Townsend market is likely to rebound well because of the quality of lifestyle and outdoor recreation.
“We’re a good-looking little town,” Bogart said.
“It doesn’t feel permanent to me. It feels like it has to go through a cycle, and maybe be right back, maybe not as crazy (as the peak of the market).”
Market peaked in 2005
The housing market on the North Olympic Peninsula peaked in 2005 and early 2006, Boe said.
According to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, home sales peaked in the third quarter of 2005, when 163,000 units were sold.
“There is definitely an opportunity right now,” Boe said. “It’s a great time to buy.”
Reiss agreed.
“There is still a definite appreciation in value,” he said, adding that it’s a good time to buy a house and hold onto it.
“Things will come back,” he said. “There is still value out there in a lot of homes.”
In Port Townsend, Bogart said prices have become more realistic, and new “green” box houses are bringing first-time buyers back into the market.
Other counties
Statewide, the center said that the median sale price fell 9.3 percent, to $266,700.
The annualized sales rate of 71,730 homes in Washington state was the lowest since the state Center for Real Estate Research began tracking the data in 1994. Across the state, the biggest sales reduction was in Columbia County, where the annualized rate of homes sold fell 58 percent.
Whitman County had 55 percent fewer sales, while Chelan, Kittitas, Skagit and Snohomish counties all saw sales fall by more than 40 percent.
The news is not all bad.
“Since the first of the year we’ve seen a lot more activity on the ground, and that is translating into more transactions,” Greg Wright, president of the Washington Realtors, told The Associated Press.
Unlike many states that are having worse problems, Washington was not overbuilt, Wright said. That means there is not a large supply of vacant homes dragging down the market, he said.
King County, the state’s largest, saw sales drop 31 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous year.
The only counties where the number of sales did not drop were San Juan, where they stayed flat, and tiny Wahkiakum County, where sales were actually up 14 percent.
The biggest drop in prices was in Columbia County, down 44.6 percent to $75,300. In San Juan County, prices fell 34.8 percent, but the $452,500 median price was still the highest in the state. Prices dropped 9.6 percent in King County to $397,000.
Prices rose in the rural counties of Adams, Asotin, Douglas, Garfield, Island, Klickitat, Pacific and Whitman.
The statewide inventory is a 9.8 months supply of homes.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
