January brought fewer residential home listings onto the market than we have seen in past years. That coupled with numerous sales, 33 homes are currently under contract in all price ranges, resulted in only 158 residential homes showing as active on the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. This is down from January 2009s average inventory levels of 320 homes on the market.

12 homes closed in January with prices ranging from a modest $182,000 to a $1.1 million waterfront home. Buyers have been actively looking but many are waiting for the spring inventory to
materialize. Short sales and bank owned properties continue to skew the sale figures to lower pricing than many sellers of non distressed properties have so far held out for. Available new
construction homes now number only 17. The homes range in price from $675,000 to $1,600,000. These homes are where some of the bargains seem to be with many list prices at 30% below where thewere initially offered at 12+ months ago.