Diminishing inventory is contributing to an increase of traffic at open houses, shifts in strategies for both home buyers and sellers and escalating prices, according to officials with the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
The latest figures show a drop of nearly 28 percent in the number of active listings in the MLS database compared to a year ago, stated a press release.
Lewis County saw a decrease of 29.17 percent in active listings when compared to numbers a year ago.
This January, there were 79 new listings reported in the county, a decrease of 10 from Jan. 2015.
According to numbers released, members added 6,670 new listings during January across the 23 county service area of MLS. That number reflects a 4.6 decrease from 12 months ago, stated a press release.
There was also a decrease of active listings, dropping to 369 this January, compared to 521 active listings in Jan. 2015.
Grays Harbor and Thurston counties also saw fewer active listings, with a decrease of 13.19 percent and a decrease of 21.69 percent respectively.
At the end of January, members reported 12,357 active listings, compared to 17,082 at the end of January 2015.
Lewis County saw no difference in the amount of pending sales, landing at 90 for both Jan. 2015 and Jan. 2016.
Thurston County had a 2.37 percent increase in pending sales, while Grays Harbor County saw a 4.35 percent increase in pending sales.
Across the service area, pending sales fell about 5.3 percent areawide during January, although half of the counties in the report saw increases compared to a year ago. The drop marked the first negative change in year-over-year comparisons since April 2014, the release said.
Lewis County saw an increase of closed sales, a 25 percent change, with 75 closed sales this January, compared to 60 closed sales a year ago.
According to the release, the MLS service area saw an increase of 11.6 percent for closed sales. There were 4,985 completed transaction, while a year ago there were 4,467 closings.
The median price for a home decreased 2.25 percent in the county and was $150,000 in January.
Lewis County was one of four counties to see a decrease in median prices along with Okanogan, Clallam and Chelan counties. Median prices on average rose 7.5 percent in the MLS service area.
Lewis County reported 4.92 months of inventory, while Grays Harbor County had 5.56 months and Thurston County had 3.04 months.
Overall the service area had 2.48 months of inventory.
