Home sales in September surge in King County but prices still declining

Home sales in King County continued their summer-long surge in September, while prices showed possible signs of stabilizing, according to statistics released today by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

By Eric Pryne
Seattle Times business reporter
October 5, 2009

Home sales in King County continued their summer-long surge in September, while prices showed possible signs of stabilizing, according to statistics released today by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Countywide, buyers closed on 1,618 houses last month, a 14.3 percent increase from September 2008. It was the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year increases, a trend brokers and agents attribute partly to the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time buyers.

The median price of houses sold in September — $382,160 — was down 7.9 percent from the same month last year. But the year-over-year decline was the smallest since December — in every other month this year, it has hit double digits, topping out at 17.3 percent in March.

More than 1,600 single-family homes have sold in the county in every month since June, a benchmark last surpassed in October 2007, when the real-estate downturn was just beginning.

"Our market has certainly come a long way since this time last year," Ron Sparks, managing vice president of Coldwell Banker Bain's Bellevue office, said in a prepared statement.

Condo sales in King County were down 12.9 percent from September 2008, and the median price of $245,000 was 9.9 percent lower.

In Snohomish County, closed single-family home sales were up 12.8 percent year-over-year, while the median sale price was $295,000, down 11.1 percent from September 2008

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