Clark County’s residential market isn’t doing all that bad.
There is about 11.4 months of inventory on the market, which is a little high – 6 months is ideal – but appreciation values are among the highest in the country.
According to recent data released by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, homes in Vancouver increased in value by 6 percent in the last year, compared to the national average of 1.8 percent.
Local home sales are down compared to 2003, 2004 and 2005. David Knode, branch manager of Coldwell Banker Barbara Sue Seal Property’s Vancouver office, said, “It was unhealthy back then.”
The local market is normalizing. Sales of homes in the $550,000 to $600,000 range are soft, but Knode’s average sale price for the year to date is $322,245 – 8 percent higher than 2006, he said.
And Coldwell Banker’s sales-price-to-listing-price ratio is almost 95.8 percent, meaning houses sell for an average of 95.8 percent of the list price.
Countywide, prices have increased by 3 percent. Although it may be a little trickier for buyers to secure financing, lenders are busy, and interest rates are hovering around 6 percent, said Knode, who predicts the market will open up a little by mid-2008 because of continued immigration to the county.
