| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 1:22 pm |
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County's real estate brokers hope market has hit bottom The recession may still have a ways to go, but some real estate brokers think home prices are done making major drops."I think we're pretty close to the bottom," Vern Holden, who owns the Mill Creek Windermere office and several others, said Wednesday. Holden made his comments on a day when the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported that both home sales and prices fell last month. Prices dropped 8.6 percent in Snohomish County, sending the combined median price of single-family homes and condominiums to $301,750. Home sales dropped 36 percent in the county in February, a month Holden said was terrible after some improvement in January. Holden said people aren't buying things they don't have to buy these days, and that includes homes. "It's partly psychology," he said. Buyers "are just not interested in getting a Mustang or free landscaping," he said. He said he believes potential buyers either need to see a series of things happen that make them feel better about the economy or they need a financial deal that they can't refuse. "The biggest factor now is interest rates," Holden said. "They've been pretty good, but they could be better." Many homeowners have seen prices drop so much that they've lost most of their equity, Holden said, adding that few people are putting their homes up for sale these days unless they're forced to by circumstances. Listings in the county appeared to support that claim, dropping 11.5 percent in February, from 6,434 homes a year ago to 5,697 last month. Ron Sparks, managing vice president for Coldwell Banker Bain, said buyers are interested but remain hesitant because they've lost confidence in the economy. "They are struggling between the desire to buy a home and the uncertainty of what might come next in the way of government stimulus, tax credits or lower mortgage rates," he said. J. Lennox Scott, CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, noted that the stimulus package approved in mid-February provides an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and that buyers who act before April 15 can use the credit in their 2008 return. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said he expects the tax credit, combined with lower prices, should help sales improve. "Conditions have been aligning very favorably for homebuyers with the exception of consumer confidence," Yun said in a statement. "But I am hopeful that sales will turn around by late spring and early summer because history suggest that home sales can rise even in times of job losses when housing affordability rises." |
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- Snohomish County's bargain housing won't last
- Boeing's 747-8 takes off after weather delay
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- I-5 bridge joint may give you a jolt, but it isn't damaged
- Vote on school levies by Tuesday
(11) - A tidy lawn could be law in Lynnwood (10)
- Everett police officers cleared in 2008 shooting death (5)
- 1949 travel aid shows how few places blacks were welcome in Washington (4)
- I-5 bridge joint may give you a jolt, but it isn't damaged (4)
- Everett rethinks boutique wineries (4)
- Three politicians who want Gregoire's job in 2012 (3)
- Toyota has powerful D.C. friends (3)
- Snohomish County's bargain housing won't last (3)
- Life story: Man fought depression courageously, family says (3)
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