Housing heats up, prices cool down

Whitman County’s housing market saw an increase in home sales during the first quarter of 2011, but the sales were for lower prices.

The Washington Center for Real Estate Research at WSU released its quarterly report of the state housing market this week.

“Well, the market is picking up and it’s falling behind. It depends on what data you want to look at,” said Glenn Crellin, director of the center.

The report showed home sales picked up 23 percent from the first quarter of 2010. Sales total was 370 compared to 300. The median price, the point at which half sold for higher and half sold for less, fell 18 percent, from $206,000 in 2010 to $170,000 this year.

Crellin said he was surprised by the jump in sales compared to 2010 which started with a federal tax credit for first time buyers.

Much of this year’s increased activity, he said, came from sellers of high-end real estate dropping their prices after their homes had been on the market for sometimes as long as a year.

Home sales during the quarter made Whitman County’s real estate market the fifth fastest growing in the state. The median price ranked 19 of the state’s 39 counties.

Across Washington, the number of homes sold fell 4.6 percent from 2010, while the average median value of $228,200 was down 7.2 percent from a year ago.

Pending staff cuts at WSU, however, may cause the local market to cool off for the rest of the year, predicted Crellin, whose center operates outside the general higher education budget and is funded by grants.

“It’s going to make it tough. Folks at the university are not very inclined to buy a different home given the current climate,” he said. “Thank goodness our friends over at Schweitzer are continuing to hire.”