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KIRKLAND, Wash. (Aug. 4, 2011) – Sellers of more than 7,000 residential properties listed with Northwest Multiple Listing Service members accepted offers on their homes last month, continuing a stretch of five months with 7,000-plus pending sales. Last month‟s 7,182 pending transactions (mutually accepted offers) improved on the year-ago total of 5,571 pendings for an increase of almost 29 percent.

Listing inventory area-wide is down about 16 percent from year-ago levels. As of the end of July, there were 37,465 active listings in the MLS system, which compares to 44,770 for the same month a year ago.

Northwest MLS members added 9,626 new listings of single family homes and condominiums during the month, the fewest since February, and a drop of more than 11 percent from the year-ago total of 10,850 new listings.

The shrinking inventory is spurring vigorous activity in some areas.

"In selected areas and price ranges, where there is a low level of homes for sale, we are seeing high sales activity for new properties when they come on the market," reported J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. Scott noted healthy sales activity is occurring close to the job centers of Seattle and Bellevue, with transferees leading the way. However, he acknowledged, "lower sales activity is being reported in the outlying markets and in the high end."

"Perhaps this is the „pent up demand‟ we‟ve been expecting to materialize for some time now based on our region‟s increased job creation and a better economic position relative to most other states or metros," Grady remarked.

Wilson reiterated that observation. "We have two forces at work here: Homes at historic levels on the affordability index and low/confused consumer confidence." If the two forces were to meet, Wilson believes a robust market would emerge, but added, "until consumers get excited about what is happening in our economy, here we will sit, which in the big picture is better than where we were a few years ago."

Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 22,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.

"It‟s classic good news, bad news story," said Northwest MLS director Frank Wilson, branch managing broker at John L. Scott Real Estate in Poulsbo. "The good news is that we seem to be at the bottom," he remarked, adding, "The bad news is we are just sitting there. Although homes are still selling, and in some cases at the asking price and in a reasonable amount of time, these are isolated to specific price ranges and geographic areas."

Pending sales of single family homes and condominiums jumped by more than 30 percent in seven counties served by Northwest MLS (Ferry, Grant, King, Kittitas, Lewis, Okanogan and Snohomish).

Closed sales also outpaced year-ago totals. Members reported 5,180 completed transactions during July, an improvement of 15.3 percent from twelve months ago when 4,491 sales closed.

The median price on last month‟s closed sales system wide was $237,975, about 13.5 percent less than a year ago when the median selling price was $274,990. Wilson, whose office is in Kitsap County, said the under $350,000 price range continues to be active.

"Homes are more affordable now than they have been in the past four decades while interest rates remain historically low," noted Joe Spencer, president and COO of John L. Scott Real Estate and a member of the Northwest MLS board of directors. He expects consumer confidence and sales to continue rising now that fears over the national debt crisis have subsided. "In spite of the political drama we saw play out, interest rates have actually dropped, lowering the cost of homeownership even further," he remarked.

"The increased number of pending and closed sales, particularly in the four-county area, is certainly encouraging," said Mike Grady, president and COO of Coldwell Banker Bain. He noted brokers in the field are reporting pockets of greatly increased buyer activity and interest, "and in some cases, intense competition among buyers for the best properties on the market."

Grady said it is apparent that home sales in all areas served by the NWMLS are not improving at the same rate. Nevertheless, he suggested, "with a substantially lower number of single family homes and condominiums on the market, and with rents rising significantly in many areas, it‟s not too difficult to imagine that stable or modestly increasing prices currently the „missing piece‟ in the recovery puzzle might soon become more prevalent in the most active segments of our market."