Clark County WA Real Estate - March 2019 Report

Unit-Sales Coming in Lower While Prices Seem to be Moderating Their Ascent for Clark County WA in March 2019.

This month Closed Unit-Sales slid by 50 units compared to the same month last year; while the short-term price-trend returned to upward, albeit less-steep direction. Here are the highlights for this month: 

• Average-Sales Price is increasing moderately, with the 12-month/long-term trend line up 7.46% compared to last year at this time;  and the 3-Month Moving Average is up 4.56% from March last year; 
   
• The Inventory for Resale Homes rose 0.1 months, and is now at (a still very low) 1.5 Months of Supply;
   
• Approximately 480 Resale Homes closed in the month, which is about 50 fewer (-9.4%) homes than in 2018; and 100 more than last month;
   
• REO/Bank Owned property sales were 3 units (0.6% of total); down from 12 (2.3%) in 2018; 
   
• Short Sale /Pre-Foreclosure property sales were 2 units (0.4% of total); down from 9 (1.7%) in 2018.

The month-end, 30-year-fixed home loan benchmark interest rate is 4.27% (Down from 4.37% last month) according to Freddie Mac; compared to 4.44% for March 2018. In fact, the current rate level is lowest it has been in the past 12 months!

Next up we have created a Unit-Volume (number of homes sold) chart showing the short term (in red) and long term (12-month moving average in Blue) trends (shown below): 

Clark County Home Sales - Units Sold Trend March 2019

This month we see the Short-term trend line moving up off the seasonal low; while the long-term trend is still drifting downwards. With lower sales this month we expect the long term trend will still go lower.

Next we have the Average Home Sales Price trends, both the short-term and long-term: 

Clark County Home Sales - Average Sales Price Trend March 2019

So far this season it is clear that there has been a moderation in the price increase - with the less-inclined slope of the short-term line. This has been strong enough to have the long-term line flatten out a little.

The short term Average sales price for Clark County is now $388,250; which is an increase of approximately $16,947 from the same time last year.

The remaining graphs are from RMLS and show:

Clark County Home Sales Inventory
& Days on Market - March 2019

New Listings, Pending Sales and Closed Sales have all risen this month. A clear sign the sales season for 2019 is ramping up. 

The second graph with the Average List and Sales Prices shows the average price for new listings has come back in line with a more modest level above the closed sales price. 

Average Days on the Market fell be a few days while the Median came down by about a week. Surely a good sign the hot season for home sales has begun.

For the most recent RMLS published report on the Clark County real estate scene you can find it here: RMLS Market Action Report on our main website.

Thank you for visiting our report; and please let us know if you have any questions or need help with your home or condo!

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PS - The home sales market is adjusting to the much higher prices combined with loan costs that have been falling, this is an excellent time to List and Sell Your Home with Our Team; 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 - Looking to buy a home reasonably soon?  Interest rates have been falling and are still at historically low rates.  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 Homes For Sale | Hockinson WA Homes | La Center WA Homes for sale | Ridgefield WA Homes for sale | Homes for sale in Vancouver Washington | 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 Real Estate Broker, 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.