Good Afternoon,

The real estate activity in Clark County is seeing some positive results.  The diminished inventory, low interest rates, rising rents fueled real estate transactions. The real estate market locally is strong with real estate sales, new construction sales, rentals, and the apartment market has the lowest vacancy rate in the nation indicating the demand for housing is very strong, and expect to see apartment development to increase to meet the demand of housing and the builders are building at the rate the homes are selling, which is a very strong indicator.

One challenge in our market is the supply of homes for sale because there is not that many homes for sale it makes it difficult for the consumer to find the desired home, so when we have approximately 1300 homes for sale and 653 sell on average this correlation makes it difficult for a buyer, furthermore if you have a home to sell the consumer may have to look at other options like selling their existing home and possibly renting an apartment short-term until the home they are looking for is sought.

A second challenge is every price category is different and requires a different kind of a loan, or simply 20% down or more. The $150,000 - $300,000 is a hot market. Above the $300,000 the market softens up a bit and the higher in price you go the softer it becomes from $300,000 - $600,000 which is a large spread 128 homes sold in one month in Clark County.  Lets go ahead and look at the report.  The statistics come from the RMLS.

Price range sales as of today:

300,000 - 400,000 = 79

400,000 - 500,000 = 36

500,000 - 600,000 = 13

Total 128 

Closed Sales for August

626  

27% increase compared to August 2012

Down 8.1% compared to July's 681 closed transactions

Pending Sales

Increased by 4 (0.6%)

635 for July and up 17% compared to July 2012

New Listings

864 less than 895 from July

45% up from August 2012 which had 596 listings

Inventory

3.9 meaning it would take 3.9 months to sell our inventory at the current rate

2,460 single family homes on the market

Market time increased to 94 days

Today's Inventory

The real number is 1,345 after you subtract the short sale pending, under construction, proposed, and bankrupt.

157 short sales

335 short sale pending

155 under construction

298 proposed to be built

50 Bankrupt

82 REO (Real Estate Owned by the Lender)

Year to Date results 

4395 closed transaction on single family

24.2% increase in closed transactions

3,538 closed this same time last year

6,687 new listings up 25.6% indicating home values are up and more owners entered the market.

Average and Median Home Sale Prices

The average sale price up 14.5% currently at $249,200 compared to this time 2012 back then it was $217,700

The median sales price is $223,000 up 17.5% from $189,800

The median price is where the majority of the transactions.

Sales Area

The Evergreen area closed 65 homes the highest amount in the county and the average sale price was $216,100

New Construction Single Family

New home permits up 50% 

96 permits issued in the unincorporated area's of Clark County up from 64 issued same time last year for July

The supply of lots is real low for the builders and there are not that many left because the big national builders made bulk purchases on distressed subdivisions, and were able to meet the demand of the market that hit bottom several years ago.

New Construction Multi-Family 

In the City of Vancouver there are over 700 units under construction, 500 under the review process, and 740 units applied for the pre-application process.

Thank you for reading this report.  If you know a friend, co-worker, or a family member looking to buy or sell please contact me at your best convenience.

Have a great day!

Bret Bucher

Broker

Sandy Scott Uptown Realty Inc

360-600-5555