Signs Show Buyer's Market Starting to Wane

Things are changing. If you're a seller, things are starting to look up. But if you're a buyer, the party is winding down.

We have had more homes in pending status every month for the past four months than we did in the same time period last year. Inventory is down as well.

Percentage wise, last month the market was 25% below 2008 levels. As of the end of June, the market was down eighteen percent. Last month, the sales level over the past six months was down by seventeen percent. Now it's off by just fifteen percent from the year before.

Current inventory for the Port Angeles market is 327 homes, down fourteen percent from last year's 378. The lowest price segment is also the largest with 89 homes priced under $200,000. That's up 27% from last year's levels.

Homes priced from $200,000 - $249,999 number 84, up 20% from last year. Almost every other segment is down.

Looking for a home priced from $250,000 - $299,999? There are 43% fewer this year with just 38 to choose from. Last year there were 55 homes priced from $300,000 - $349,999. Now we have 27 to choose from.

Selection in the $350,000 - $399,999 segment is also off by more than 50% with only 20 currently available. And homes valued from $400,000 - $499,999 are off by 35%. There are 25 now.

There's one more home in the $500,000

to $599,999 bracket. There's an even dozen now on the market. Conversely, there's one fewer home in the top segment of homes priced at $600,000 and above, but still 32 to choose from.

It's still taking longer to sell a home this year, but just nine percent longer -- with an average of 136 days. Right now, even though inventory is lower, the sales rate gives us almost the same absorption rate as last year at this time; 15.3 months.

Sales of homes under $200,000 have held almost even from last year; with 62 sold so far. Last year we'd sold 61 by this time.

Sales of homes from $200,000 - $249,999 are off by half with just 21 sold so far. The next section, $250,000 - $299,999, have seen five more sales this year with 27 purchased by the end of June. We only sold seven homes priced between $300,000 - $349,999 by this time in 2008. So far this year; three.

We've had one-third fewer buyers in the $350,000 - $399,999 bracket with just eight sold now. $400,000 - $499,999 homes have had three sales. Last year there were six.

There's been one more home sold in the $500,000 - $599,999 range. There's been three so far this year. And if you were looking to sell a home priced above $600,000. . . two have sold by the halfway mark of the year. Down 50% from 2008.

As inventories shrink, demand will start to raise prices. That's the basic law of supply and demand. It won't happen quickly, but signs are there that the process is beginning.

In the first week of July eleven homes sold and thirteen went under contract. Thirty-six were withdrawn, expired or taken temporarily off the market.

Last year the average home sold for 95% of the asking price. At this point the average is 94%.