Home sales in western Washington fell 9.1 percent in March from a year ago, as prices posted another month of double-digit gains, according to the latest figures from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Brokers reported 8,043 closed sales last month, down from 8,776 reported a year ago.
Last month’s closed sales of single-family homes and condominiums had a median selling price of $292,000, eclipsing the year-ago figure of $256,783 by 13.7 percent, according to NWMLS. Ten of the 17 counties reported annual price gains of 20 percent or more.
NWMLS members added 12,639 new listings to inventory last month, edging out the year-ago total of 11,808 new listings. The additions include 10,786 single-family homes and 1,853 condominiums. With those new listings, the total inventory at month-end rose to 23,533 listings. Compared to the same month a year ago, the inventory grew by 15.9 percent.
“People are taking a bit longer to decide and even with the increase in inventory, there hasn’t been a reduction on selling prices,” said NWMLS director Dick Beeson, the broker at Windermere Real Estate/Paragon in Tacoma.
Kirkland, Wash.-based Northwest Multiple Listing Service covers most of western Washington and encompasses more than 2,000 companies with approximately 26,000 sales associates.
