Island County housing market sees drop in listings

Housing continued to be tight last month in Island County, with only 412 active listings for homes, down 20 percent from 515 in April 2015, according to numbers released last week by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. The median price among closed home sales was $283,000, up 13 percent from last April’s $250,000. Countywide, 227 homes sales were pending, up 5 percent from 216 in April 2015. The county had 3.25 months of housing inventory.

May 10, 2016 5:56 pm

Housing continued to be tight last month in Island County, with only 412 active listings for homes, down 20 percent from 515 in April 2015, according to numbers released last week by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The median price among closed home sales was $283,000, up 13 percent from last April’s $250,000. Countywide, 227 homes sales were pending, up 5 percent from 216 in April 2015. The county had 3.25 months of housing inventory.

The Puget Sound market “is near historically low levels of absorption. This has things weighted in sellers’ favor,” said Ken Anderson, president/owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty, in a prepared release.

Across the 23-county market area, in April there was a 1.85-month supply of houses plus condos. That’s a slight improvement from March, when there was a 1.79-month supply, though down from the year-ago level of 2.36 months.

“It’s this lack of inventory (both new construction and resale) that’s causing prices to escalate so quickly,” said Mike Grady, president and COO of Coldwell Banker Bain.