For the past several weeks, my Windermere Broker has been sending email messages of encouraging news he comes across, to our office agents.  He calls them Glimmers of Hope.  Sometimes it is a great new listing, sometimes a listing that sold quickly or with multiple offers.

Thursday, March 5, I unfolded the Seattle Times to a huge glimmer (can you actually have a huge glimmer, or does it become something else completely?) of hope!  The NWMLS (NorthWest Multiple Listing Service) releases their monthly sales statistics about the 5th of each month.  You can be sure that Real Estate will be on the front page of the paper as soon as they get these statistics.  After so many months with little to cheer about, I was really happy to see this headline...."Encouraging signs in battered market".  It did report that sales prices are down, but that there are some multiple offers and quick sales of properties that are priced right.  Sales volume is down and prices are still down, but the number of new sales in my office does seem to be taking a slight upturn.

Agents and sellers now have a year's worth of down-turning market information that they can review when they determine the likely sales price and the target list price of a property.  The more information the agent and seller have, the better job they will be able to do in pricing the property.  We all need to remember that the list price is a combination of what the agent recommends and what the seller believes is the current market value.

For February, median prices for Seattle homes were down 12.6% over kast year and for the Eastside, prices were down 18.5% over last year.  Eastside condominium sales prices were down 7.6%, while Seattle was down 12.6%.