July statistics for Thurston County

The July NWMLS statistics are in. Here are the year-over-year changes in Jul-08 compared with Jul-07 for Thurston County for single family houses:

median price: -5.8%
active listings: -6.1%
pending sales: -24.8%
closed sales: -22.2%

July 2007 was the highest median price on record. The median price in July 2008 has dropped 5.8% or about $16,000 from the peak ($275,910 in Jul-07 versus $259,950 in Jul-08).

The median price shows a significant declining trend that is similar to other counties around Puget Sound and elsewhere around the country. One surprise is that the median price is declining even though number of active listings are decreasing (2165 active listings in Jul-08 versus in 2306 in Jul-07). Pierce County was the only other Puget Sound county to show negative YOY for active listings.

Here are the charts for the last 2 years of YOY changes for Thurston County compared with the average of all Puget Sound counties:

Home sales dip again in July

From The Olympian, August 14, 2008:

Home sales dip again in July

The median price of single family homes and condos fell 6.85 percent in July compared with a year ago. The median price fell from $275,173 last July to $256,326 this July. The number of sales dropped 18 percent. New home construction has slowed, and many potential sellers are taking their homes off the market and "waiting for the market to improve".

Home sellers turn to incentives to draw buyers

From The Olympian, August 4, 2008:

Home sellers turn to incentives to draw buyers

Some local sellers are offering scooters, trips to the Caribbean, or free gasoline to attract buyers.