After the strong increase in number of units sold in December, January was a letdown, with unit sales down by 26% in Bellingham, although up in Whatcom County as a whole from 2009. February brought the numbers back, resulting in year to date sales nearly even in Bellingham compared to 2009 and up in Whatcom County overall. Bellingham has traditionally been the strongest residential sales area in the county, so the shift to greater strength in the county over the past 2 months has been an aberration – it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year develops. Prices continue to soften, with both averages & medians trending downward in most areas. Some details

• January/February residential units sold decreased by 1.3% in Bellingham and increased 17.4% in Whatcom County as a whole over January/February 2009.
• Average sale prices for homes in Bellingham during the first two months of 2010 were even with 2009, but the median fell by 8.4%
• Average sale prices for homes sold in Whatcom County as a whole dropped by 4.7% from 2009, while the median was down 1.9%.
• The strongest markets in Whatcom County in terms of residential units sold relative to a year ago were Ferndale and Birch Bay/Blaine, up by 100% and 28.6 % respectively. Their average prices dropped by 6% to 8.6%, but the median in Ferndale rose 12%.
• Sudden Valley is holding its own, and Lynden is continuing to struggle.

The chart below shows unit sales, average sale prices and median sale prices over the past 3 years in Whatcom County as a whole.

For the complete Bellingham and Whatcom County statistics, charts and predictions visit the February Real Estate Report online.  For ongoing real estate numbers, go to www.JohnsonTeamRealEstate.com. We update the site weekly with everything from interest rates to market conditions to information from Fannie Mae, the FED and the FDIC. Also, feel free to call us at (360) 303-2734 or e-mailInfo@JohnsonTeamRealEstate.comif you want to know more about a specific portion of the market – we track a lot more than we have space to report.
If your neighborhood would like a presentation or a link to your website of up-to-date information on real estate in the neighborhood, we can provide it – just give us a call.

www.JohnsonTeamRealEstate.com also includes a constantly updated list of newly listed properties and a list of properties being offered as short sales & foreclosures (REOs), as well as the entire listing database of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, fully searchable to your specifications.