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

Clark County and Vancouver Real Estate Report May 2013 and Quarter 2

This report is for May 2013 and the statistics come from the RMLS.  Clark County Washington is seeing some strong residential real estate activity.  Home prices are on the rise and so are the consumers. The amount of home selling is at the year 2007 at the height of the real estate boom.  The buyers are looking and finding that it is difficult to find what they are looking for because of the low amount of homes for sale.  On the other hand listings are up indicating that more people can sell their existing home and less owners are under-water with equity.  Clark County is in a thriving sellers market and the pattern exist with muliple offers and homes selling in one day even hours.  This is very positive and exciting to watch our market rebuild.  Let's go ahead and look at the results:

New listings
Up 3.7% Compared to April
Up 23.6% Compared to May 2012

Closed sales
575 closed sales
The last time we had this amount of was August 2007
Closed sales exceeded April's number of 529 up 8.7%
Comparing May of 2012 closed sales up 21.6%

Pending Sales
740 Pending sales up 8.5%
682 pending for April
Up 32.6% compared to May 2012 (558 accpeted offers).

Year to date compared to 2012 same period
New listings up 16.6%
2,953 mutually accepted transactions and closed recorded sales up 22.8%

Sales Prices compared to 2012 same period
The average sale price is $243,600 up 15.5% last year the average was $211,000
The median sales price is $218,000 increased 21.1%
This time last the year the median was $180,000

Inventory
3.8 meaning it would take 3.8 Months to sell all of our listings at the rate of sale
May of 2011 it was 7.9, May of 2012 it was 5.7

Today's actual inventory July 12th, 2013
2006 Active listings
1245 Pending Sales
474 Short Sale Pending
289 Proposed To Be Built
116 Under Construction
137 Short Sales
83 REO Bank Owned
The actual number of inventory is 1127 after you subract the Short Sale Pending and the New Construction To Be Built

Thank you for reading this report.  I hope this is a valuable resource with understanding our local real estate market.  If you know a friend or co-worker looking to buy or sell please consider me.  I am nver too busy for referrals.  Please contact me with their name and phone number and I will contact them at my best convenience.

Best regards,

Bret Bucher
360-600-5555

Clark County and Vancouver Real Estate Report March 2013 Quarter 1

Good Afternoon,

This is a Clark County Real Estate Report for March 2013 and the statistics come from the RMLS and Realtytrac.  Clark County is seeing some real impressive activity in our local real estate market.  It is incredible to report that not only are sales on the rise but home values are red hot indicating we now are in a sellers market.  We are no doubt seeing the pattern of a sellers market with multiple offers and homes going over list price and homes selling in a few days.   We have not seen this kind of activity since 2006.  Clark County has a low supply of homes and a strong demand from consumers and it is very nice to see because this will have a direct result with our local economy.  Lets take a look at the results:

Closed sales for March

461 closed homes the best March since 2007

New listings

Up 13% compared to last year

First Quarter results 2013

Closed sales up 12.6%

6.1% new listings rose indicating home values are rising and more people can sell

Average sales price up 20.2%

Median sales price up 25.4%

Inventory for March

4.4 meaning it would take 4.4 months to sell all of our existing listings

Today number 4/16/2013 there are 2079 active listings however here is the real number:

2079 - 532(short sale pending) =1560 - 466 new construction proposed = 1,094 listings (low amount)

51 Bank Owned REO listings

Foreclosures

up 21% 259 foreclosures for March

Building Permits

up 35.9% for February 2013 

11.1 Million 

Thank you for reading this report.  I hope you find it useful.  If you know anyone looking to buy or sell please contact me at your best convenience.

Have a nice day!

Bret Bucher

360-600-5555   Cell
360-334-4464   Office
360-694-7360   Fax

Broker

Sandy Scott Uptown Realty Inc.

1400 Main St Vancouver WA

http://www.sandyscottuptownrealty.com

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=38257647&trk=tab_pro

Good Evening,

Here is a real estate market report created by myself.  This data comes from the RMLS.  Wow, we are seeing some incredible results in our local housing market.  The market is really moving into the right direction and this is real nice to see.  The inventory levels of homes are real low and the interest rates are fueling our market.  The builders are selling the homes as fast as they can build them.  Let's go ahead and look at these results:

New listings

Up 80.7% compared to December 2012.

Closed transactions

329 closed homes the highest amount for January, since 2007 before the market crashed.

Inventory 

Measuring at 6.2 meaning 2,052 homes for sale in the county the second lowest amount in 5 years (last December had the lowest).

The real number after subtracting proposed to be built and short sale pending may be only 1,000 -1100 homes on the market a very low number of homes for sale in the county.

Today's Inventory: February 19th, 2013

1573 Active listings 

523 Short Sale Pending

179 Short Sales

67 Bank Owned

Average and Median Sale Prices

Prices are going up.

Average sale price up 6.9%

Median Sales Price up 6.5%

Average sale price is $225,000

The Median is $197,000

The Median is the overall majority of all transactions

Foreclosure's

Up 75.7% because the foreclosure moratorium law expired.  The law began in 2011.  Also, the bleak economy may have an influence.

297 foreclosures in January

5th highest county in WA State out of 39 counties

Building Permits

Up 65.8% for the year of 2012

577 permits issued grew 187.7 million

First time home buyer

Incredible program in Washington State called The Bond program

This program is a zero down loan program

Interest rates

30-Year Fixed	3.625%	3.799%
30-Year Fixed FHA	3.500%	4.551%
15-Year Fixed	2.875%	3.182%

Thank you for reading this report.  If you know anyone looking to buy or sell real estate please give me a call at your best convenience.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at your best convenience.  Celebrating ten years in the real estate business and thank you!

Clark County WA Real Estate Report for November 2012

Here is a Clark County report for the period of November these statistics come from the RMLS.  This year I saw a complete positive change in our local real estate market.  Really low inventory and low interest rates have helped improve our market locally.  The demand for housing in Clark County is active and doing much better.  

Closed sales compared to November 2011

Up 23% 428 closed homes vs. 348

Inventory status is 5.2

It would take 5.2 months to sell our inventory

2,212 homes for sale keep in mind this includes to be built and short sale pending indicating the real actual number is lower

Today's inventory is 2170 subtract the 523 short sale pending and we have 1647 subtract the to be built the real number maybe less than 1400

Year to date

6,980 new listings - down 15% compared to last year

5,263 pending sales - 3% more accepted offers

5,025 closed sales - up 8.5% compared to last year

Improvements compared to the same period of last year

The average sales price up 4% $221,000 vs. $212,500

The median homes sale price is up 2.8% $192000 vs. $186,900

Building permits

"Experts say the 84 percent year-over-year increase in the county's October housing starts stemmed from dwindling supplies of new

and existing houses for sale and historically low mortgage interest rates. In unincorporated Clark County, builders were issued 61 permits

last month by Clark County's Community Development Department to construct single-family homes valued at $19.3 million total. 

The figure compares with 33 permits valued at $11.3 million in October 2011."   Reported November 9th 2012 from The Columbian

Foreclosure rate

"The number of Clark County homes in foreclosure rose 33 percent from October to November, and also increased 77 percent from November 2011, according to a report issued Wednesday Foreclosures continued to hobble parts of the U.S. housing market in November as well, as lenders adjusted to new ground rules set forth by the National Mortgage Settlement, according to RealtyTrac.Nationwide, November foreclosures decreased 3 percent from the previous month and were down 19 percent from November 2011." Reported December 12th, 2012 from The Columbian

Best regards,

Bret Bucher

Broker

Sandy Scott Uptown Realty Inc

360-600-5555 

The real estate activity is slowly showing some positive signs of improvement in Clark County.  Looks like everyone jumped off the fence this year and maybe the low 3.65% 30 year rates that I have seen on a purchase is the motivation because we are seeing some real good signs of improvement here in Clark County.  Let's go ahead and take a look at the results from the RMLS, and thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this.

Comparing July 2012 to July 2011
Accepted offers up 3%. 
Pending sales up and the highest since the month of July 2009.

Closed sales
Increased 6.5% from July 2011.
Year to date closed transaction up 5.3%.
July had the highest amount of sales for the year 2012.

Listings
Down 11.2% compared to July 2011.
Shrinking 1.5% from last month.
Inventory is at 5.4 meaning it would take 5.4 months to sell all our existing listings.
We have the same amount of inventory as we did last month.
There are 2,628 listings in Clark County.
The real numbers are much lower after subtracting
the proposed to be built and the Short Sale Pending.
The actual number might be 1,620 listings. Real homes to walk through.
Clark County has the lowest amount of inventory since June 2006.
How many bank owned? 52

Sales
Up 7.6% compared to July 2011.
Average sale price rose 7.6% from $211,300 to $227,400.
Median sales price rose 8.4% from $183,300 to $198,700.

Distressed Homes
838 total short sales.
592 short sale pending.
A short sale is a pre-foreclosure that the lien holder may sell short of the balance of debt secured to a property.
A short sale may not actually sell because of many reasons associated with the property. 

Foreclosures from Realty Trac
Down for 5 consecutive months.
Dropped 38% from July 2011.
Highest amount of foreclosures out of the 39 counties in Washington State.

New Construction
416 proposed to be built.
73 underway with the process of building.
297 new.
Building permits up 52% for July.
Year to date 290 permits issued a 42% increase.

Today's Market Demographically
We are seeing renters playing a big role and purchasing their home.  The rental market is white hot because the Portland Oregon metropolitan area's has the lowest vacancy rates in the nation.  Also people that have owned for 15 - 30 years are either down sizing or making a change in location.  Believe it or not we are seeing people who went through the process of a short sale returning to the market and purchasing.

One great opportunity to buy a home today.  If you know anyone looking to buy or sell please consider me.  I appreciate referrals.  The best way to begin in real estate is understanding the market and what to expect as a buyer or a seller.