Flathead home sales increasing

Prices dropping as foreclosure sales continue

Kalispell appraisal Jim Kelley has some good news to report from the Flathead real estate market. According to his most recent market trends update, residential sales for January through May are up 31 percent compared to the same period last year.

“The number of sales continues to be substantially higher than what they were in 2011,” he says in his June report. “The number of REO (bank-owned homes) sales decreased again in May, and the total number of sales continued to increase. This is continuing evidence that the housing market bottomed in the fourth quarter of 2011. In 2012, prices have been stable, and the number of sales has increased.”

A total of 475 homes in Flathead County sold in January through May, compared to 361 last year. The median price, however, dropped 11.5 percent from $200,000 last year to $177,000 this year.

The lower prices could be a result of the continuing number of foreclosures sales, as the impacts of the four-year-old recession continues to affect the housing market.

Of the 475 homes that sold this year in the Flathead, 37 percent were bank-owned, and the median price was $147,000. Kelley reported 32 short sales with a median price of $150,000.

The number of residential listings for June were down from last year. Kelley reported 1,678 homes on the market in June, compared to 1,905 last June. A total of 1,029 homes sold in the Flathead last year, with a median price of $180,000.

Of the homes listed in June, 7.4 percent were bank-owned with a median price of $159,000, and 5.1 percent were offered as short sales with a median price of $179,000.

Kelley tracks foreclosures in the Flathead by the number of notices of trustee sales recorded with the county 120 days before a trustee’s sale, as well as the number of actual trustee’s sales.

Both figures for all real estate classes — residential, vacant land and commercial — were on the decline in 2012, he reported.

The percentage of properties sold in January through March that were bank-owned ranged from 40 to 45 percent. That figure dropped to about 30 percent in April and May.

Using data from Foreclosure.com for the past 12 months, which includes preforeclosures, foreclosures and sheriff sales, Kelley reported that the number of homes in foreclosure across the U.S. averaged about 7 per 1,000 units.

The figures for Montana were much lower, averaging about 4 per 1,000 units, but the number for the Flathead was much higher, averaging more than 10 per 1,000 units.