Home sales see typical November downturn

November home sales in Spokane County typically sag compared to prior months, and that held true this year; 455 homes sold in November, 107 fewer than the month before.

The bit of good news is the 455 sales were the highest November total since 2008, said Rob Higgins, executive director of the Spokane Association of Realtors.

Overall, closed sales in November were up 23 percent compared with November 2013’s 369, the association reported.

Sale prices, however, were mixed in November compared with last year, said Higgins.

The average sales price was $183,029, about 2 percent lower than November last year. But the median price of $165,000 was up 5 percent from $157,500 in November 2013; the median means half sold for more, half for less.

The average price slump, said Higgins, may be related to fewer high-priced homes selling this November.

Also showing a slight decline are new-home sales, Higgins said. For the first 11 months this year there were 586 newly constructed homes sold; in the same period in 2013 there were 625 new homes sold in Spokane.

The one subarea of the market with the highest number of new homes sold was Greenacres, the association said. In November there were 12 new homes sold, with a $344,029 average price. Three of the homes in the Morningstar Heights subdivision, in Greenacres, sold for more than $400,000 each, Higgins said.

There were 2,236 homes listed for sale on Nov. 30, the association said, a drop of 6.8 percent from November 2013’s 2,400.

November saw four downtown condo sales with an average $303,000 sales price.