Low-Inventory Pinch for Clark County WA's Real Estate in February 2016!
This Report's focus is on the pre-owned (resale) home segment of the real estate market in Clark County WA. For the past 18+ months the available resale inventory has dwindled to a very low level, such that for February 2016 we are starting to see fewer closed sales - combined with continued rising prices. Here are some of the highlights for this past month:
- Average-Sales Prices are up, with the 12-month/long-term trend line up 8.56% compared to the prior year, and the 3-Month Moving Average up 10.89% from the same time last year;
- The Inventory for Resale Homes has remained at the low level of 1.2-Months Supply (1.2 last month);
- Approximately 359 Resale Homes were sold in February 2016, which is about 22 (-5.8%) fewer homes than in February 2015.
- REO/Bank Owned property sales were 16 units (4.5% of total); down from 31 (8.0%) in 2015.
- Short Sale /Pre-Foreclosure property sales were 8 units (2.2% of total); down from 11 (2.8%) in 2015.
The February 2016 30-year-fixed home loan benchmark interest rate decreased to 3.66% (from 3.87% last month) according to Freddie Mac; compared to 3.71% for February 2015. The Federal Reserve's decision to not raise interest rates may or may not have had an effect on home loan rates drifting downward.
New we present our custom charts for Clark County WA. Starting with RMLS data we apply "smoothing" techniques to better present the short-term trend (3-month moving average in Red); and long-term trend (12-month moving average in Blue).
Clark County Home Sales - Units Sold Trend February 2016
While it appeared that the seasonal upswing for 2016 might occur at the level seen in January, the severe lack of homes for sale has caused February's average to drop by such a large amount that the long-term trend-line has actually flattened out!
The main confirmation that the shortage of homes is causing decreased closed sales is the continued increase in average sales price, as shown in the chart below. The short-term trend had a very brief and gradual decrease over the Winter season, and has again resumed going upwards. The long-term trend has not wavered at all during this winter's slow time.
Clark County Home Sales - Average Sales Price Trend February 2016
Of note this year is the observation that the short-term trend for sales-price did not dip below the long-term trend, like it had done in the previous two winter seasons.
Without a significant increase in inventory in the short-term, the Clark County housing market will continue to see very strong upward pressure on prices.
Clark County Home Sales Inventory & Days on Market in February 2016
This final graphic with three charts come from the RMLS statistical package.
The first chart shows how New Listings and Pending Listings have both increased, with the number of pending sales keeping pace wit new listings.
The second chart shows that the average price for New Listings are pushing upwards quite strongly.
The third chart shows the Average/Median Days-On-Market -- clearly showing we have a Hot Market!
More information from RMLS on the Clark County real estate scene has been posted here: RMLS Market Action Report on our website.
PS - You are invited to visit Real Estate in Clark County WA where it is Very Easy to search by City, Neighborhood or by Category, with homes and real estate listings from the entire RMLS. Sign-up Not Required! The property and home listings shown are provided via many updates each day, and you will be e-mailed hourly with any new matches once you've signed up for a home search.
These are the MLS Listings for these great towns in Clark County: Battle Ground WA Homes | Brush Prairie WA Homes | Camas WA Homes | Hockinson WA Homes | La Center WA Homes | Ridgefield WA Homes | Vancouver WA Homes | Washougal WA Homes | Yacolt WA Homes | Amboy WA Homes
PPS - Perhaps you are thinking of Selling or, just want to know what your home is worth? We offer a no-cost, no-obligation Vancouver WA Home Valuation Report, and invite you to try it out!
The charts in this Clark County WA real estate update (prepared by Vancouver Real Estate Broker, John Slocum, CRS, SFR, our resident statistician) are based on home sales recorded in the Clark County WA MLS system (RMLS), excluding sales of mobile home; and shows the purchase activity since 2009; charting the 3 month Moving average number of sales, and the 12 month Moving average. This "smoothing" of the trend-data helps illustrate the short-term and longer term trends in Clark County's real estate market.
Disclaimer: as with any real estate statistics, we do our best to provide the best representation at the time the data was acquired and compiled. The data and reports are deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
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