Real Estate Market Report for Vancouver WA - March 2014

Vancouver's Real Estate in March 2014 Showing a Good Pace.

March marks the end of The First Quarter of 2014 and finds the Vancouver WA Real Estate market still struggling with low inventory of resale homes. Here are this month's highlights:

• The Average Home Sale-Price Moved Up again; showing the 3-Month Moving Average up 12.66% over the prior year; and the 12-Month Moving Average went up 12.39% from the prior March.
   
• The Price Trend Lines were also progressing in the Upward Direction for both the 3-Month Moving Average, and the 12-Month Moving Average.
   
• 266 Resale Homes were sold in March, which is about 23 (8%) fewer homes than had sold in March 2013.
  
  
• 371 Resale Homes went Pending; vs. 323 in the prior year.
   
• REO/Bank Owned property sales were 36 units (13.5% of total); up from 33 (11.42%) in March 2013. 
   
• Short Sale /Pre-Foreclosure property sales were 38 units (14.3% of total); down from 53 (18.3%) in March 2013.

We advise that Vancouver Washington is a relatively small reporting area and thus, the results for each month must be merged with existing data to effect "smoothing" to allow the trends to better reveal themselves. 

Another "quirky item" that is difficult to capture is that some homes may go Pending - to - Sold in the same month; while others may go Pending in one month, and become a Closed sale more than one month following!

Finally, the Closed Sale of one or more million-dollar(+) home in a month can raise the Average Sales price for Vancouver measurably for a one-month report; while blending that information into several month's of data smoothes out that effect.

Now for our Charts for Vancouver Real Estate!  The first chart displays the number of Resale Homes Sold (Excludes New Construction).  We are using the simple statistical smoothing techniques mentioned above, to show a short term trend line equaling the 3-month Moving Average; and the longer term trend line equaling the 12-month Moving Average. 

Vancouver WA Resale Home Sales - Units Sold Trend March 2014

With Vancouver being the largest reporting area in Clark County WA, this trend line will look very similar the one for the County. 

Next up is the display for the current action on Home Prices. This month Vancouver WA's overall price trend-lines were flat, while Vancouver's rose!

Vancouver WA Resale Home Sales - Average Sales Price Trend

We opine that part of the reason for Vancouver's increase in average sales price is the relatively very low inventory (home supply) condition we've seen recently.   

The final series of chats below show the month-by-month action for Unit Sales, Average & Median Prices; and Days on Market:

Vancouver Home Sales Inventory & Days on Market Trends

These final 3 charts show the market behavior around the beginning of the year, with Days on Market higher than the summer time but, lower than they were the same time last year.

We also notice that the new listings coming on the market are "pushing" the price envelope upward, visible by March's average list price being much higher than at any time in the previous 12 months.

We opine that 2014 is starting out almost as strong as 2013 did.  The unit-volume is slightly less, most likely owing to low available inventory.  The severe winter in other parts of the country could also be having some effect near-term as the normal in-bound buyers from those states have been weather-delayed!
 

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PS - Visit the Home Search for Vancouver WA on our website, where it is Easy to search by Neighborhood or by Category, with property and real estate listings from the entire RMLS.  Sign-up Not Required!

PPS -2014 is shaping up to be a big year for the real estate market.  Don't delay with your Home Selling or Buying Plans - Call Us Soon!

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The charts in this report (prepared by John Slocum Realtor®, our resident statistician) are based on home sales recorded in the Vancouver MLS system (RMLS), excluding sales of mobile home; and shows the purchase activity since 2009; charting the 3 month Moving average number of sales, and the 12 month Moving average.  This "smoothing" of the trend-data helps illustrate the short-term and longer term trends in Vancouver WA's real estate market.

Disclaimer: as with any real estate statistics, we do our best to provide the best representation at the time the data was acquired.  We deem the data and reports reliable but not guaranteed.