Home prices fall for fourth month in a row

As further proof of the softening real-estate market, King County single-family home prices have now fallen for the fourth month in a row, November sales statistics released today show.

That puts last month's median house price is back to where it was the previous November — $435,000 — offering further evidence of sluggish housing demand.

Last month's pending sales (signed but not yet completed) fell 25.6 percent in King County, compared to a year earlier, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which released its November data today.

Sales fall off even more, along with continuing price softening, in the neighboring counties.

Median house prices now stand at $360,000 in Snohomish County, $269,950 in Pierce County and $265,000 in Kitsap County.

Both Kitsap and Pierce counties experienced year-over-year house-price declines, with median prices down 3.4 percent in Pierce and 6.7 percent in Kitsap. Snohomish County's median house price is up 0.70 percent — or essentially unchanged.

King County, which has the bulk of the region's condominiums, saw their median sales prices climb 4.2 percent, to $284,450, last month compared to a year earlier. Meanwhile the number available grew 69 percent, perhaps reflecting new condos coming onto the market. Pending sales were down 19 percent.

Some sluggishness in sales is to be expected, said Rich Lucas, a real estate agent in the Auburn office of Keller Williams in Auburn office. "The numbers go down in November. That's just part of a regular season through the holidays," he said.

Indeed, Thanksgiving week had about half the home sales throughout King County compared to the weeks preceding it, he observed.

The number of available houses and condos continued to significantly outpace the number for sale a year earlier, but was down from the highs of several months ago.

King County had 47 percent more properties on the market, Snohomish had 50 percent, Pierce had 33 percent and Kitsap had 25 percent. Combined, that totaled 30,036 homes for sale.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com