Northwest Multiple Listing Service brokers reported double-digit gains in both pending and closed sales during April compared to a year ago, but the most eye-catching number may pertain to prices. For the first time in more than four years (since January 2008) the year-over-year change in selling prices was positive.

The price gain was a modest 1.27 percent for last month’s sales of single family homes and condominiums that closed in the 21 counties served by Northwest MLS. For single family homes (excluding condominiums) the price gain compared to 12 months ago was 2.9 percent. Condo prices fell 7.9 percent.

The median price for last month’s closed sales area-wide was $240,000 for single family homes and condominiums combined.  That compares to $237,000 for year-ago sales. The figure for April also outgained the median price for completed transactions during the months of March ($225,000) and February ($218,944).

Prices for single family homes continued climbing. The median price for last month’s closed sales was $250,000, up from both a year ago ($242,950) and from March ($234,487).

While cheered by the figure that snapped a 50-month string of negative numbers for year-over-year price comparisons, Northwest MLS brokers said consumers must be realistic in their expectations. They also noted the market recovery will be slow and incremental.

“We’ve seen appreciation three months in a row, signaling a definitive turnaround in the market,” remarked OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate. “Due to the shortcomings in the Case-Shiller index I think it will take them until November to report year-over-year appreciation,” he added.  (The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices track changes in the value of residential real estate both nationally as well as in 20 metropolitan regions.) 

“As is fairly typical of a recovering market, the activity first heats up in the urban centers, and then spreads to the surrounding suburbs and outlining areas. We are now seeing this trend,” noted Jacobi, who is also a member of the Northwest MLS board of directors.

Tight inventory is creating sellers’ markets in some areas, according to reports from MLS directors. Inventory is down more than 27 percent for the Northwest MLS market overall, and by even larger margins in three counties: Snohomish (down 46.2 percent), King (down 39.4 percent), and Pierce (down 28.6 percent). Brokers say as demand outstrips supply, competition may intensify, especially for homes that are well-priced and in good condition in desirable locations.

Brokers added 9,166 new listings to inventory last month, which was 917 fewer listings than the same month a year ago. At month end, the selection totaled 25,291 active listings, a drop of 27.5 percent from a year ago according to the latest figures from Northwest MLS.

It is a seller’s market in Kitsap County, reported Northwest MLS director Frank Wilson, the branch managing broker at John L. Scott Real Estate in Poulsbo. Statistics show inventory there is down more than 13 percent compared with a year ago, pending sales jumped 39.3 percent and median prices increased more than 14 percent.

MLS members reported 8,790 pending sales across all 21 counties during April for a 22.9 percent increase from a year ago when there were 7,154 mutually accepted offers.

Talk of a seller’s market has to be tempered, Wilson emphasized, because “when sellers hear these words in the news they instantly think their homes are worth a lot more money….and they are not. Even if our home prices appreciated 2-to-3 percent a year – which they aren’t currently — it will take many years for homes to return to the values that we saw a few years ago,” he suggested.

Despite his cautionary words, Wilson was upbeat.  “We continue to see an increase in activity across the board. More people at open houses, more listings coming on the market, more buyers making offers and more multiple offer situations on correctly priced and staged homes.”

While Kitsap County experienced an uptick in new listings in April compared to a year ago, 11 other counties reported drops. System-wide, based on current inventory and demand, there is less than a three month supply, about half the volume needed for a balanced market.

Inventory is considered by many industry observers to be a key indicator affecting the housing market. In a recent Bankrate.com interview about the market’s recovery, Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate in Los Angeles, suggested zeroing in on inventory, which he called “the most important statistic.”

“The pent up demand of local home buyers who are now purchasing homes has ignited a surge of sales activity,” observed J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate. He said this surge is creating a shortage of inventory, causing multiple offer situations for many new properties coming on the market. “For homeowners who have equity, and have been cautiously waiting to sell, this ultimately means they can sell their home today and purchase within the same market timing,” Scott explained.  Historically low interest rates are an added advantage, he added.

Also commenting on inventory and the lively market was MLS director Joe Spencer, area director for Keller Williams Northwest Region.

“As Yogi Berra said, ‘It’s like déjà vu all over again’ as the Puget Sound real estate market continues trending in the same positive direction for the fourth month in a row,” Spencer remarked. With new and available inventory in a diminished state, he said there’s been a strong increase in buyer activity. “Low interest rates continue to energize buyers, while for sellers, prices in the Puget Sound are stable and up in areas close to job centers,” according to Spencer.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 22,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.

Alison Dudziak of Realty Executives Brio in Bellevue

Alison Dudziak and Realty Executives Brio is the Eastside Business Directory Business of the Day!

Here is the information from their listing in the Eastside Business Directory:

Realty Executives Brio

Victoria British Columbia, and the last 3 in Bellevue WA. My experience has allowed me to become extremely talented in Residential sales allowing me to obtain the highest price in the interest of my seller and the lowest price for the interest of my buyer. I am a self motivated sales professional with abilities to communicate with my clients and understand their property needs and preferences. I am responsible for preparation of contract documents, purchase and sale agreements and ensure that the legal formalities are completed prior to closing. I live in Bellevue with my husband and three teens and an array of animals. I welcome the opportunity to meet you and help plan your next real estate move.

A 32-year veteran of real estate, Spencer most recently led John L. Scott Real Estate, where he was President and COO for eight years. Prior to that, Spencer worked with Coldwell Banker Bain Real Estate for 20 years, nine of which he served as COO.

According to Mike Mendoza, Keller Williams’ Northwest Regional Operating Principal, the company has experienced exponential growth over the last five years, despite a downturn in the market and in the industry. “We’re thrilled to have someone of Joe’s caliber to continue to elevate our market presence and grow our agent and Market Center count,” said Mendoza.

Keller Williams attributes its steady growth to the company’s agent-centric focus that emphasizes access to industry leading technology and education, specifically the company’s award-winning MAPS coaching tool for agent training, and the company’s proprietary lead and contact management tool eEdge.

About Keller Williams

Keller Williams Realty Inc., headquartered in Austin, Texas is the second-largest real estate franchise operation in the United States, with almost 700 Market Centers and more than 78,000 associates in the United States and Canada. The company’s Northwest region is comprised of over 3,000 associates in 28 Market Centers. Keller Williams Realty Inc. has grown exponentially since the opening of the first Market Center in 1983, and continues to cultivate its agent-centric culture that emphasizes access to leading-edge education, technology and an economic model that rewards associates as stakeholders. The company also provides specialized agents in luxury homes and commercial real estate properties.

“Buyers are beginning to realize that we may have seen the bottom of this real estate market,” remarked Frank Wilson, branch managing broker at John L. Scott Real Estate in Poulsbo and a member of the Northwest MLS board of directors. “Waiting to buy may only result in paying a higher interest rate, having fewer houses to choose from, or finding that sellers do not need to give up as much as they have in the past,” he added.

Brokers reported 7,623 pending sales during February, the highest volume since August when they notched 7,632 mutually accepted offers.  Last month’s tally jumped 27.4 percent from twelve months ago, with 20 of the 21 counties in the MLS service area reporting double-digit gains.

Within King County, pending sales were particularly robust in the Lake Forest Park/Kenmore neighborhoods (up 73 percent), Kent (up 61 percent), Burien/Normandy Park (up 58 percent) and central Seattle (up 56 percent). The northeast portion of Snohomish County also experienced strong sales (up 63 percent from a year ago).

“The only thing tempering this from being a hot, thriving market are the short sales and foreclosed properties which represent about one-third of the transactions,” Wilson commented.

J. Lennox Scott, CEO and chairman of John L. Scott Real Estate, said the combination of job growth and historic low interest rates is creating a seller’s market through the mid-price ranges and contributing to surging activity close to job centers. “It’s a special moment in time in real estate history,” he observed, adding “We have a backlog of qualified buyers looking for homes to purchase.”

Buyers have fewer homes to consider compared to a year ago, with inventory down 22.5 percent area-wide.  At month end, there were 25,510 active listings in the Northwest MLS database; a year ago, there were 32,922 homes and condos listed for sale.

The selection compared to twelve months ago is down sharply in both King County (off 32.3 percent) and Snohomish County (down 38.2 percent).  Measured by months of supply, Snohomish has about 2.1 months while King is slightly better at 2.3 months.  (Five to six months of supply is considered to be a balanced market, with less than that presumed to be a seller’s market.)

Northwest MLS brokers added 7,390 new listings to inventory during February, about 400 fewer than the same month a year ago.

Asking prices are comparable to a year ago. System-wide, the median asking price for the current inventory of single family homes and condominiums is $249,900, about $5,000 below the year-ago median figure of $254,950 (down 1.98 percent).  Six counties (Ferry, Grant, King, Mason, Snohomish, and Whatcom) reported higher median listing prices in February than 12 months ago.

Northwest MLS members reported 3,846 closed sales last month, up about 25 percent from the year-ago total of 3,080 completed transactions.

Selling prices continued to slip, but the decline was under 9 percent for the first time in nearly a year. The area-wide median price for last month’s closed sales of single family homes and condominiums (combined) was $218,944, down about 8.8 percent from the year-ago figure of $240,000.

For single family homes only (excluding condominiums), prices were down about 7.7 percent from a year ago.  Last month’s closed sales fetched a median sales price of $229,000, which compares to the year-ago price of $248,000.  Five counties (Clallam Ferry, Grant, Lewis and San Juan) reported year-over-year price increases.

Commenting on the market around Kitsap County, where prices dipped nearly 11 percent, Wilson said he expects prices to “stabilize and even reverse as we move further into 2012.”  With 4.3 months of supply in that county, he believes the market is tilting toward sellers. “We continue to see more multiple offer situations on homes that come on the market correctly priced,” he stated.

Wilson also pointed to recently released consumer confidence numbers as a positive indicator.  He noted The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index posted sizeable improvements in February, approaching levels last seen a year ago.

In a statement accompanying the latest report, Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said consumers were more optimistic about the short-term outlook than they were a month ago. “Consumers are considerably less pessimistic about current business and labor market conditions than they were in January. And, despite further increases in gas prices, they are more optimistic about the short-term outlook for the economy, job prospects, and their financial situation,” she declared.

Nationally, the overall direction for the housing market is positive, according to analysts with the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  Its latest figures show the past few months of contract activity are the highest in more than four years outside of the home buyer tax credit impact. In comments accompanying the latest figures, NAR suggested the market isn’t as strong as it could be because of overly restrictive lending standards and contract cancellations due in part to appraised values coming in below a negotiated price.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 22,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.

Other new officers of the MLS governing body include Bobbie Petrone Chipman, vice chair; Darin Stenvers, treasurer; and Ken Anderson, secretary.

Prior to being elected to their officer positions, Haines and Chipman were re-elected to new three-year terms. MLS member-brokers also elected three of their peers to board positions, one in the Southwest voting district and two in the King County voting district.  They include Kay Cochran of Lower Columbia Realty LLC in Cathlamet, George Moorhead of Bentley Properties in Bellevue, and Joe Spencer of Keller Williams Realty Bellevue.

Newly elected board chair Diedre Haines, has been on the MLS board of directors for the past six years, serving as vice chair in 2011. Her real estate career spans more than three decades. In her bid for election, she commented on recent accomplishments and the changes and challenges the industry is facing. “Sharing data, social media, QR and MS codes, video, smart phones and other technological advances and how we deal with these rapidly evolving aspects are only a small part of the changes to come,” she commented.

Vice chair Bobbie Petrone Chipman served as 2010 secretary and 2011 treasurer on the Northwest MLS board of directors.  She is one of two representatives for the Pierce/Thurston voting district. A licensee since 1992, she has been a principal managing broker for 14 years, a position she currently holds at the Puyallup office of John L. Scott, Inc.  She is also a past president of the Tacoma/Pierce County Association of Realtors and serves on the National Association of Realtors MLS Committee.

Darin Stenvers, a current board member representing the North voting district encompassing four counties, is the newly elected treasurer for the Northwest MLS board.  A Realtor for 20 years, he is the office managing broker at John L. Scott, Inc. in Bellingham.  The Bellingham native has also held various leadership positions with the Whatcom County Association of Realtors and was recognized as Realtor of the Year by his WCAR peers in 2006.

The newly elected secretary, Ken Anderson, is the designated broker and owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty, Inc.  He is one of two directors representing the Pierce/Thurston district. Anderson is a past president and past chair of the Olympic Multiple Listing Service. His civic activities include leadership positions with the board of Providence St. Peter Foundation (currently serving as president), the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, the local chapter of the American Red Cross, Rotary Club of Olympia and the campaign for the Hands On Children’s Museum in Olympia.  He is also a licensed attorney in Washington and member of the Real Property Section of the Washington State Bar Association.

Last year’s chair, Doug Davis of Hallmark Realty in Kirkland, continues on the board as immediate past chair.

NWMLS, owned by its member-brokers, is governed by the board of directors. The directors represent eight geographic districts in the MLS market area, covering 21 counties in Washington.

The latest figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service show pending sales in January outgained the same month a year ago by 739 transactions.  Brokers reported 6,132 mutually accepted offers in January to start the year with a 13.7 increase over the January 2011 figure of 5,393 pending sales.   

“Given that we lost a week with some of the worst weather in 16 years, the numbers are astoundingly good,” remarked Anderson, a director for Northwest MLS. “This is the first January in four that we can make a reasonable year-over-year comparison,” he added, noting numbers are no longer skewed by the artificial stimulus of various tax credits and incentives that date to 2009. “The improvement in the numbers show that the market is healing itself and standing on its own.” Anderson commented.

Declining inventory, extremely low interest rates, and positive job growth are contributing to rising optimism among industry professionals, but Northwest MLS directors say distressed properties continue to be a drag on the market’s recovery.

Inventory is down almost 20 percent from a year ago. Brokers added 6,666 new listings to inventory during January, with single family homes making up about 85 percent of those additions. At month end, MLS members reported 26,226 total active listings; a year ago, there were 32,647 active listings.

Despite the smaller selection, the price choices overall are wide ranging, from a low of $13,000 for a manufactured home in Sultan to an asking price of $26.8 million for a waterfront home on Mercer Island.

Snohomish County reported the sharpest drop in inventory, with the selection at about two-thirds of the year-ago levels (a decline of 32.6 percent).  Several of the 29 MLS map areas within King County also reported declines of 30 percent or more in the total number of active listings.

“The ongoing reduction of available inventory is still impacting the market,” said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate and a member of the Northwest MLS board of directors. “We have plenty of qualified buyers who are ready to buy if they could just find a home,” he noted.

The lower number of new listings coming on the market is due to a combination of factors, said J. Lennox Scott, CEO and chairman of John L. Scott Real Estate.  Among them, he mentioned underwater sellers (who owe more on their homes than the current value), sellers with equity holding off for higher prices, and the lack of new construction/condominiums. “The low number of new listings combined with the increase in sales activity is creating the shortage of homes for sale in specific areas and price ranges,” Scott reported.

Northwest MLS reported 3,469 closed sales last month, up nearly 8.2 percent from a year ago when members reported 3,207 completed transactions.

“A sellers’ market has returned in the areas close to the job centers of Seattle and Bellevue, up to the one million dollar price point,” Scott noted, adding, “We are also seeing the same situation in the more affordable price ranges in the surrounding market areas, caused by a shortage of inventory and healthy-to-strong sales activity.”

Echoing that sentiment was Northwest MLS director Frank Wilson, who said, “Inventory in many price points and locations is dropping and what buyers are finding are overpriced or under staged homes.” Wilson, the branch managing broker at John L. Scott Real Estate in Poulsbo, also foresees upward pressure on prices as choices become narrower.

For now, however, prices are showing mixed signs –stabilizing in some areas while declining or increasing in other areas.

The median price for last month’s closed sales of single family homes and condominiums (combined) was $214,990, down about 11.7 percent from a year ago when the median selling price was $243,500.  The price changes ranged from year-over-year increases reported in five counties (Ferry, Grant, Kittitas, Mason, and Pacific) to declines of up to 40 percent (in Clallam and Grays Harbor counties).

“Price increases are muted by short sales and foreclosures that are causing low appraisal values,” observed Scott.  MLS directors Jacobi and Wilson agreed.

“We are simultaneously seeing the continued rise in pending and closed sales,” Jacobi stated. “Usually pent up demand and rising sales means that prices will be going up. But, unfortunately, that isn’t the case thanks to the high level of distressed properties that continue to drag down the entire market,” he explained.

“What is tempering our real estate recovery in Kitsap and much of Puget Sound are the short sales and REO properties that are on the market and the way the banks are dealing with their sales process,” said Wilson, while pointing to several encouraging signs.

All the pieces are in place for a more normal market in much of Kitsap, Wilson said. “With pending sales up 17 percent in Kitsap, buyers are taking advantage of the values this market is offering and the extremely low interest rates. If this trend continues we should begin seeing price appreciation as we progress into the year,” he remarked.

Improving numbers show the artificial stimulus of the tax credits was not the key to the recovering market, suggested Anderson.  “Instead, today’s affordability has buyers in all price segments returning – and feeling more confident about the future.”

Northwest MLS director Darin Stenvers believes “the perfect storm is brewing.”  He said the pent-up need for homes in good condition is creating shorter market times and sales close to the original asking price. “It is a great time for sellers who have been waiting,” said Stenvers, the office managing broker at John L. Scott Real Estate in Bellingham.

“The market is almost done with the needed correction,” Stenvers stated, adding, “Distressed homes and REOs are not going away fast but have slowed and should soon level off.” He also foresees a loosening of overly restrictive lending guidelines.

Reflecting on a real estate career that dates to 1990, Wilson said, “I remember at the height of the market people would say ‘I wish I would have bought some waterfront back in 2001…or I wish I would have picked up a couple of rentals a few years ago’.”  For these people, “the clock has been rolled back and you now have an opportunity to purchase real estate near the bottom of the market,” he suggested.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 22,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.

1) Call the number on the sign

2) Text to the number on the sign rider

3) Scan the QR Code on the sign rider

4) Drive on by

This was an opportunity to make a good return for the investor members and an ideal time for Kauri,” said Kent Angier, president. “The majority of our staff lives in Bellevue so the move will shorten peoples’ commutes,” said Angier. The sale was not a 1031 transaction but Kauri continues to look for opportunities to acquire properties for development or re-development within the Seattle area.

Move On LLC who purchased the building will utilize the majority of the space as an owner/user. Tim Foster and Jeff Suver with Kidder Matthews brokered the transaction. 

About Kauri Investments, LTD. Founded in 1987, Kauri is noted for renovation, conversion and effective property management. The company has developed or substantially rehabilitated nearly 2,000 housing units. In addition to multi-family development, Kauri has diversified into mixed-use residential and commercial properties as well as expanding its capabilities to include fee development and real estate consulting. Kauri recently completed the Hyatt Place Seattle at Denny Way and 6^th Avenue the brand’s first West Coast location and the conversion of Seattle’s historic Alaska Building into a Courtyard by Marriott hotel. The company will begin construction on a 48 unit apartment project in Fremont in February of this year.

A year-over-year comparison shows December’s pending sales (mutually accepted offers) rose more than 20 percent from a year ago. Northwest MLS brokers reported 5,237 pending sales last month, up from the previous year when they recorded 4,359 transactions.

Last month’s pending volume exceeded the number of new listings (4,604) for the second consecutive month. The last time such an imbalance occurred was November 2006.

Closed sales also outgained year-ago totals. December’s completed transactions were up 7 percent from twelve months ago, rising from 4,430 closings to 4,741. Six counties registered double-digit gains (Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, and Snohomish).

Following the pattern of recent months, prices were down.  The median price for December’s closed sales of single family homes and condominiums declined about 11.8 percent from a year ago, dropping from $255,000 to $225,000. Brokers attribute much of the slip in prices to the number of distressed properties in the mix. In some areas, foreclosures and short sales, which tend to be sharply discounted, account for about one-third of sales.

Also trending downward is inventory.  Brokers across the Northwest MLS service area, which encompasses 21 counties, added 4,604 new listings last month, down from the year-ago total of 5,460 listings. With those additions, there were 26,639 active listings in the MLS database at month end, a drop of more than 5,500 listings from a year ago (a 17.2 percent decrease).

For the Northwest map areas covering Seattle, inventory is down 30 percent compared to a year ago.

“All over we are seeing healthy marketplaces emerge as the inventory levels drop,” said J. Lennox Scott, CEO and chairman of John L. Scott Real Estate. “As you get closer to the job centers of Seattle and Bellevue, the marketplace is looking strong again,” he added while expressing optimism for the coming year.  “The outlook for 2012 is the continuation of a strengthening marketplace, especially in the more affordable to mid range priced homes.”

The combination of shrinking inventory and favorable financing is causing some areas to tilt toward a seller’s market, as measured by the supply of homes. Area-wide, there is about a five month supply of homes, which is generally considered to be a balanced market favoring neither buyers nor sellers.

In Snohomish County the months’ supply is pegged at 3.2 months, which means it would take approximately that much time to exhaust current inventory at the current pace of sales with no replenishment. Inventory of active listings in that county is down more than 28 percent from a year ago.

For King County overall,  the supply is approximately 3.6 months, but in some sub-areas within the county the supply is less than 3 months — including parts of South King County (notably around Renton and Federal Way), parts of North Seattle (including Ballard, Sand Point, and Lake City), and parts of Bellevue (East of I-405).

OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate, believes the market has undergone a shift.  “Where we’ve been during the past year is a place of transition. It has been a slow recovery, but the housing market has finally turned a corner, albeit a soft one with some bumps along the way,” he commented.

Despite rising sales, Jacobi, a member of the Northwest MLS board of directors, noted foreclosures and short sales continue to cause downward pressure on prices. “Many would-be sellers are still wary of the market, and as a result, there are fewer homes for sale,” he observed, adding, “At the same time, there are buyers who are eager to strike while the iron is hot, so in some areas, homes are selling before many buyers even have a chance to react.”

Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 22,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.

Last month’s total number of mutually accepted offers was 22.4 percent higher than the same month a year ago. It also marked the first month since December 2006 that the number of pending sales surpassed the number of new listings (6,043), prompting discussions of possible inventory shortages.

“As we head toward the end of the year, it’s certainly good to see a healthy number of buyers relative to the available inventory for sale,” said Mike Grady, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker Bain. “In fact,” he noted, “there are some desirable neighborhoods in urban core areas where the case could be made there are too few homes currently for sale.”

At month end, there were 30,650 residential listings in the MLS inventory across 21 counties, down nearly 17 percent from a year ago. For the listing service map areas covering Seattle, the database shows a year-over-year drop of about 32 percent.

“Entering the New Year, the Seattle metro area will start off with a shortage of inventory in both the more affordable and mid-priced ranges,” suggested J. Lennox Scott, CEO and chairman of John L. Scott Real Estate. He noted a high percentage of sellers are receiving offers within the first month or two of listing their homes.

Despite the smaller selection, the listings in the MLS database covering all counties span a wide price range: 400 homes are priced at $50,000 or less and 65 residences are listed at $5 million-plus.

For homes and condominiums that sold last month, the median selling price was $225,000, down 10 percent from the year-ago median price of $250,000. Single family home prices were off 8 percent from a year ago ($234,612 versus $255,000), while condo prices slipped more than 17 percent ($169,000 versus $204,500).

Brokers point to distressed properties, which tend to be deeply discounted, as a primary cause of lower prices.

Bank-owned homes continue to put downward pressure on pricing, reported Northwest MLS director Matt Deasy, general manager of Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc.

For the four-county Puget Sound region, a check of the Northwest MLS database shows more than one-fourth (26.8 percent) of the single-family homes that sold last month were classified as distressed, up from the year-ago figure of 21.9 percent.

Kitsap County was one of the few areas to register a price gain. The median sales price edged up slightly more than 1 percent, from $230,000 to $232,500. “One month does not make a trend,” acknowledged MLS director Frank Wilson, while noting the change in direction to a positive number is encouraging.

Wilson, the branch managing broker at John L. Scott’s Poulsbo office, expects Kitsap County will benefit from last week’s surprise announcement of a contract extension between Boeing and the Machinists Union, since Kitsap often feels an echo effect of what happens on “the other side.” If ratified, he said the contract “will definitely help our area (particularly the northern part) in the long run as buyers will continue to see a significant price difference between Seattle-side real estate and what they can buy in Kitsap.” (According to Northwest MLS data, the median asking price on current listings of single family homes in Kitsap County is $289,000, while in King County it is $370,000, about 28 percent more.)

The “fantastic, recent news coming out of Boeing is going to secure thousands of jobs in the area,” said J. Lennox Scott. With that news, combined with momentum from other major area employers, “we are seeing solid, renewed demand for local housing,” he remarked. Job growth, historic low interest rates and an elevated number of residential investors taking advantage of favorable market conditions are contributing to “a healthy level of sales activity, one of the best in the nation.”

One of the sub-markets with vigorous activity is North Seattle, reported Mike Grady. The number of homes currently in escrow nearly matches the number still available for sale, a condition not seen since the boom years of 2005 and 2006, according to his analysis. He is also encouraged by the small ratio of distressed properties. Grady said fewer than 6 percent of North Seattle properties waiting to close escrow are ‘short sale’ transactions, which he said is “a positive trend our brokers will be keeping a close eye on in the weeks and months ahead.”

Northwest MLS director Wilson cautioned some of the statistics for November and December should be viewed “with a grain a salt.” Buyers and sellers tend to think more about family time and the holidays, and sellers may choose to postpone listing their home until the New Year, or take them off the market during the holiday season, he explained.

Wilson’s observation is bolstered by findings from a Realtor.com survey, which found the vast majority of respondents, 79 percent, said more serious buyers were one of the biggest benefits of listing during the holidays. Less competition was an advantage cited by 61 percent of the survey respondents. The majority of respondents, 74 percent, said pricing a home to sell is even more important during the holidays, while an even higher number, 80 percent, said online listing photos were particularly crucial since buyers visit fewer open houses and sellers are less inclined to schedule them during the busy holiday season.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service, owned by its member real estate firms, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest. Its membership includes more than 22,000 real estate brokers. The organization, based in Kirkland, Wash., currently serves 21 counties in Washington state.