Home Sales Up, Prices Down In Spokane

November home sales in Spokane County increased in comparison with 1994, but prices dropped by 3 percent despite lower mortgage rates.

According to the Multiple Listing Service of the Spokane Association of Realtors, 463 homes sold last month, five more than a year ago.

The value of all sales slipped to $51.1 million from $52.2 million, reflecting a decrease in average price of a little more than $3,000.

That was an unusual departure from an upward trend in housing prices that has prevailed since 1989.

And it came even though mortgage rates are about 1.7 percentage points lower than a year ago. On a 30-year, $100,000 loan, the change reduces a homeowner’s monthly payment from $826 to $706, noted Marcy Bennett, a loan officer at Farmers & Merchants Bank and a member of the Realtor association’s mortgage finance committee.

Looked at another way, she said, a potential home buyer could qualify for that loan with gross monthly income of $2,800, down from $3,300 a year ago.

Association President Bev Gates said the figures show a market that has held its own while many others around the country have been more volatile.

“The Spokane market does not produce wild swings in numbers and value levels,” she said.

Gates said the combination of flat prices and attractive interest rates should make homes a bargain for would-be buyers.

A good sign for sellers was a somewhat smaller inventory - 2,309 home this November vs. 2,443. But homes were taking longer to sell: 75 days, compared with 66 a year ago.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Home sales