Sales were up, sales were down, some prices were up, but most ing were down…and whether they were up or down changes according to how one compares them.  If you are confused already, welcome to the club…but let’s try to make some sense of it.

For the most part, the number of homes sold was less than in October, which is normal.  The exceptions were Ferndale and Nooksack Valley, where almost twice as many homes sold in November, and Birch Bay/Blaine, where there was a slight uptick.  If we compare sales numbers to last November, however, more homes sold this year in every area of the county except Lynden and Mt. Baker.  Overall, nearly 11% more homes sold in Whatcom County this year than in November of 2010.

That’s good news.  It means that people want to buy and are able to get loans.

Now let’s look at prices, which seem to be an entirely different story.  Hang in here and I’ll explain the “seem to be” after we look at the numbers.

From October to November, average and median prices dropped by double digits in every area except Lynden (and the median in Sudden Valley).  As a whole, average prices in Whatcom County fell by 16.7%, while the median fell by 5.7%.  November 2011 to November 2010 price changes were not quite as dramatic, but almost.  Bellingham, Ferndale, Nooksack Valley and Mt Baker saw double digit declines in both average and median prices.  Only the Birch Bay/Blaine area saw increases in both average and median, although both Lynden & Mt Baker saw medians go up a bit.  For the county as a whole, the average was down 12% and the median down a bit over 11%.

So has the housing apocalypse hit us?  I don’t think so.  Let me show you why.  The following table shows how many Bellingham homes sold in each of 4 price ranges in November 2010 and then in November 2011.  (If you wonder why I just use Bellingham numbers for this, give me a call or email and I’ll explain my reasoning.) When I look at this table, there are a couple of numbers that jump out.  Look at the total units sold in 2010 in the under $300,000 range…then look at the same category in 2011.  Then follow each of those lines over to the “% of Market” column.  Pretty dramatic, right?

So what does this mean?  Have a lot of homes dropped so much in price that they are now in the under $300,000 range rather than the $300,000 to $500,000 range?  Certainly some have crossed that line, but we have actually seen fewer dollars of change in the lower price range.  Remember, 1% of a large number is a lot more than 1% of a smaller number.  I don’t think that explains the substantial increase in under $300,000 sales, and I will show you why.

For the complete article and analysis of the Bellingham and Whatcom County Real Estate Markets go to the December Real Estate Wrap up on our website.

For more information on Bellingham Real Estate or to search for homes in the Bellingham and Whatcom County area visit www.JohnsonTeamRealEstate.com, your one stop Bellingham real estate and community information resource!