Locally, homes sales have been on the rise for the past 18 months. Now prices are finally begin to tick back up.
For the past three months, we have seen year over year gains in Thurston County’s average home sales price. While three months is not a long pattern, it is encouraging news. The previous 60 months saw year over year declines, with the last 24 of those showing a softening of the fall. The recent uptick in prices is not surprising. In real estate, pricing trends lag 18 months behind trends in the number of sales. With sales year to date 26% higher than the same period in 2011 (the bottom of our market in terms of number of sales), signs have been pointing to the summer of 2013 as the time for price recovery and it’s great to see this trend emerging.
This last month home prices were 2.6% higher than a year ago. The 12-month trailing average price now stands at $237, 671. A year ago the number stood at $231,660. With buyer interest at a six-year high, we expect to see the trend in prices to continue up through next year. This is a welcomed sign for all homeowners!
