Condos Sustain Market in Olympia, Wash.

For the second month in a row, a burst of condo sales helped to soften a drop in overall Thurston County, Wash., home sales in April, the Olympian reported Monday.

Yes, you read that right. Like the Seattle housing market, sales are still rising despite widespread fears - and the condo market is still strong.

Single-family home sales slid downward by more than 20 percent last month, but the overall results were helped by a 400 percent increase in condo sales, the multiple listing service’s data show.

The data includes sales of new and existing homes. The combined single-family home and condo sales data resulted in a 15 percent decline in home sales to 353 units, down from 417 units a year ago.

Median prices rose 6.57 percent to $267,500 last month, up from $251,000 last year - still an affordable Washington mortgage payment for most.

Separately, the multiple’s single-family home sales results show:

• Single-family home sales dropped 21.4 percent to 323 units, down from 411 last year.
• Total active listings were nearly 50 percent higher at 2,029 units, up from 1,358 last year.
• The median price of a single-family home climbed 9.11 percent to $274,950, up from $252,000.

Though April sales were down in Thurston County, it trailed only King County, Snohomish County and Pierce County in sales in Western Washington in April, said John L. Scott Olympia branch manager Ty Frederick.

The pace of new South Sound home mortgage loan applications has so far been strong this year, said Jeff Devlin, a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage consultant.

Devlin said he doesn’t sense the “doom and gloom” today that hung over much of the Washington real estate market a year ago.

“People are realizing that mortgage interest rates are still low,” Devlin said.

The average home loan rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan offered by a Washington mortgage lender have dropped from 6.50 percent to about 6 percent since last fall.

The condo market, meanwhile, remained strong in April, up a significant amount from last year. The increase had no apparent effect on prices that dropped more than 16 percent from the same period last year.

A higher inventory of lower cost condos has caused median prices to drop, but as construction starts on more expensive condo projects this summer, prices are expected to rise, said real estate agent Tamera Strawn, a condo specialist.

The condo sales data show:

• Condo sales rose 400 percent to 30 units, up from 6 last year.
• Condo listings were 60 percent higher at 56 units, up from 35 last year.
• The median price of a condo dropped 16.6 percent to $183,463, down from $220,000.

SOURCE: The Olympian