Our home prices among fastest growing in U.S.: Wenatchee ranks in top five

The Wenatchee World Online

Sunday, December 3, 2006

http://www.wenworld.com/sub/story.php?id=1165087223-886-270

By Christine Pratt World staff writer

-- Home prices in Wenatchee increased at the nation's fifth-highest rate in the first three quarters of 2006, even as the housing market cools across the country, a federal report on the national housing scene shows.

Prices on single-family homes increased by nearly 22 percent in the Wenatchee area through September 2006, compared with the same period last year.

The growth rate was 16.4 percent statewide and 7.7 percent nationally.

The results come from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's third-quarter House Price Index, released Thursday.

The index tracks mortgages written for the same houses over time, unlike local statistics, which track total numbers and dollar volumes of houses sold. It's intended to give a more accurate read of appreciation.

Metro areas with higher home-appreciation rates were:

•Bend, Ore., 30.4 percent
•Boise City/Nampa, Idaho, 26.5
•Gulfport/Biloxi, Miss., 23.3
• Miami/Miami Beach/Kendall, Fla., 22.1

"Obviously, growth can't go on forever. When it will slow down, I don't yet know," said Doug Morgan, spokesman for the Wenatchee-based North Central Washington Association of Realtors.

Morgan says baby boomers who are choosing the Wenatchee area for retirement continue to fuel the region's housing boom.

He says the retirees fleeing congested streets and high prices of the larger cities have discovered the Wenatchee area as a lower-cost, scenic and less hectic alternative.

"This has been a trend over the years, and now we're reaching a critical mass," Morgan said.
But growth is cooling.

The housing market tailed off in Chelan and Douglas counties in the third quarter of the year, according to a report last month from the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University.

The report said housing sales declined 11.6 percent in the two counties even as prices continued to climb with median prices hitting $223,900 in Chelan County and $225,000 in Douglas County for the three months ending Sept. 30.

Morgan also pointed to the growing number of homes for sale in price categories above $350,000. "That tells us as Realtors that there is some moderation by price category," Morgan said. "I'm not talking about a huge decrease. I'm talking about slowing down from a very hot to a still very good market."

The Real Estate Snapshot, a housing report published monthly by Wenatchee appraisal firm Pacific Appraisal Associates, shows that the market remains strong -- and supplies slim -- in almost every category priced less than $350,000.

The short supply has sent prices up, making it harder for middle-income buyers, particularly first-time buyers, to buy a home.

A ranking system published by the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University shows Chelan and Douglas buyers typically have 97.5 percent of the money they need to buy a middle-priced home. The rating slips to about 57 percent for first-time buyers.

Other Washington cities with strong home-appreciation rates include Longview, 20.6 percent, and Bremerton/Silverdale, 17.7-percent.