{"id":15870,"date":"2011-06-06T13:27:08","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T20:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/?p=15870"},"modified":"2011-06-06T17:27:08","modified_gmt":"2011-06-07T00:27:08","slug":"nwmls-sales-prices-still-rolling-along-the-gutter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/06\/nwmls-sales-prices-still-rolling-along-the-gutter\/","title":{"rendered":"NWMLS: Sales, Prices Still Rolling Along the Gutter"},"content":{"rendered":"

May market stats were just published by the NWMLS. Here’s what they have to say about their numbers: Momentum building as home buyers respond to lower prices, favorable financing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Northwest Multiple Listing Service members reported a 43 percent increase in pending sales of single family homes and condominiums during May compared to the same month a year ago.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have to stop there to note that last year May was the first post-tax-credit hangover month for pending sales, so comparing pendings this May to last May is basically meaningless. Consider the following plot of phending sales for every year since 2000 overlaid on top of each other:<\/p>\n

\"King<\/a><\/p>\n

Note that it’s pretty normal for there to be a slight bump up between April and May, and this year was no different. The positive comparison to last year only really tells us that last year’s May was really lousy, not that this May was particularly hot.<\/p>\n

I’ll dig into their press release a little more in tomorrow’s reporting roundup. For now let’s get to the stats.<\/p>\n

\n
CAUTION<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

NWMLS monthly reports include an undisclosed and varying number<\/a> of
sales from previous months in their pending and closed sales statistics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Here’s your King County SFH summary, with the arrows to show whether the year-over-year direction of each indicator is favorable or unfavorable news for buyers and sellers (green = favorable, red = unfavorable):<\/p>\n