Real Estate for sale Clark County WA - February 2018 Market Report

Nice Up-Tick for Pre-Owned Home Sales in Clark County WA for February 2018.

Reversing the sluggish sales posted last month,  Clark County pre-owned real estate and home sales rallied and posted 33 more units-sold for February. Here are the key highlights for February's results: 

• Average-Sales Prices are still slipping below their recent record highs, which is typical this time of year; the 12-month/long-term trend line is up 11.10% compared to February 2017,  and the 3-Month Moving Average is up 11.97% from last year; 
   
• The Inventory for Resale Homes rose ever so slightly to 1.1 Months Supply;
   
• Approximately 416 Resale Homes were sold in the month, which is about 33 more (8.6%) homes than in 2017; and 46 more than last month.
   
• REO/Bank Owned property sales were 4 units (0.96% of total); down from 17 (4.4%) in 2017. 
   
• Short Sale /Pre-Foreclosure property sales were 5 units (1.2% of total); up from 3 (0.8%) in 2017.

The month-end, 30-year-fixed home loan benchmark interest rate is 4.33% (up from 4.03% last month) according to Freddie Mac; compared to 4.17% for February 2017.

Next in line are the custom graphs/charts we have prepared for Clark County WA. A simple "smoothing" technique is used to better present the short-term trend (3-month moving average in Red); and long-term trend (12-month moving average in Blue). 

Clark County Home Sales - Units Sold Trend February 2018

The still-declining short-term trend-line is now below its low for last year which may be reasonable to expect with such low available Inventory. The long-term line is showing a sideways move, as overall demand for housing is still reasonably strong.

Average Sales prices shown in the next chart (below) have slipped slightly below the long-term trend but, haven't gone as far as this time last year. 

Clark County Home Sales - Average Sales Price Trend February 2018

The February short term Average sales price for Clark County is now up to $359,647. This is an increase of about $38,448 from a year ago.

Clark County Home Sales Inventory
& Days on Market - February 2018

Our final three graphs from RMLS show:

Closed Sales and New Listings have both moved up, with Pending sales actually dropping slightly. Even so, the available Inventory did not move up that much. 

The second graph is showing another strong spread between new-list prices and actual Closed sales prices.

Finally, for the Days on the Market, the Average increased 12 days to 61, and Median increased one day to 27.

More information from the RMLS published report on the Clark County real estate scene can be found here: RMLS Market Action Report on our website.
 

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PS - This is without a doubt a great time to List and Sell Your Home with Our Team for 2018; or, at least find out what your home is worth!  We offer a no-cost, no-obligation Clark County WA Home Valuation, and invite you to try it out!

PPS - You are invited to visit our web-page for Clark County WA  Homes For Sale where it is Quite Easy to search by City, Neighborhood or by Category, with homes and real estate listings from the entire RMLS.  Sign-up Not Required!  The property and home listings shown are provided via many updates each day, and you will be e-mailed hourly with any new matches once you've signed up for a home search.

We also have the MLS Listings for these great towns in Clark County:  Battle Ground WA Real Estate | Brush Prairie WA Homes | Camas WA Real Estate | Hockinson WA Homes | La Center WA Homes | Ridgefield WA Homes | Vancouver WA Homes | Washougal WA Real Estate | Yacolt WA Homes | Amboy WA Homes

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The information and charts in this Clark County WA real estate update (prepared by Vancouver WA Realtor, John Slocum, CRS, SFR, our resident statistician) are based on home sales recorded in the Clark County WA 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 Clark County'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 and compiled.  The data and reports are deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Fair Skies on the Home-Ownership-Horizon

Buyers who have been concerned about what might happen to the tax laws affecting home ownership should feel more comfortable about moving forward with their decision to purchase. The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act passed by Congress and signed by the President continues to treat real estate as a favored investment.
Whether it is for a home to live in as your principal residence or to use as rental property, the tax laws are in place but other dynamics to be concerned with are not; mortgage rates are expected to rise as well as prices.
Reasons to buy now:

1. The mortgage interest deduction is intact for most taxpayers.
2. The capital gain exclusion for principal residences up to $500,000 remains in place.
3. Taxpayers can elect annually to take newly increased standard deduction or itemize deductions whichever will benefit them the most.
4. The house payment with taxes and insurance is most likely cheaper than the rent.
5. Rents will continue to rise making the difference even greater in the future.
6. Lock-in the principal & interest payment with a fixed-rate mortgage.
7. 30-year mortgage terms are available to most borrowers.
8. Prices will likely increase due to lower inventories and several years of low housing starts.
9. Section 1031 exchanges, capital gains and depreciation remain the same for rental properties.

For a summary of specific real estate provisions in the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, click here.