Home sales down in Lane County.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

Compared with a year ago, many would-be homebuyers in Lane County should have had a much easier time this August sealing a deal on a house they liked.

The number of new listings jumped 12.5 percent last month over August 2005, according to figures compiled by the Portland-based Residential Multiple Listing Service. On the other hand, pending sales dropped 18.3 percent and closed sales went down 7.9 percent, the RMLS reported Thursday.

For the first eight months of this year, 5,463 people put their houses on the market in the county, compared with 4,795 the same eight months of 2005.

But that doesn't mean that it necessarily has become a buyer's market - prices continue to rise. The median sales price - the point at which half of the homes sold for more more and half for less - increased 19 percent to $216,500 during the year ending in August, compared with the same period the year before.

Like all statistics, real estate sales figures have to be evaluated carefully, said Bob Percy, principal broker with John L. Scott Real Estate.

"When you compare just about any year to 2004 and 2005, it's not going to be as good, because those were extremely active years with interest rates at an all-time low, the economy humming along and prices rising rapidly," Percy said. "It might be more accurate to compare this market with 1998 or 2000, when things were less unusual."

With a slight cooling of the superheated market of the past couple of years, "generally speaking, there's a larger inventory on the market, and this is not a year when you can tack a lot extra on the price and expect to get it," Percy said. "But a house that's priced right, well-maintained and in a nice neighborhood will sell. It just might take a little longer than it would have a year ago."

In August 2005, houses sat on the market an average of 41 days, from the time they went on the market until their owners signed a sale agreement, according to RMLS figures.

This year, it took an average of 50 days. But it may have been worth the wait for sellers, because the median price of housing sold in the month of August came in at $242,800, up from $209,900 in August a year ago.

Although buyers coming in from places outside Oregon may be getting less for their money this year compared with the past couple of years, the still healthy market treats homegrown buyers a little differently, Percy said.

"If you're from this area and you're selling a house and buying a house, you're going to win a little on one end and lose a little on the other - you'll get more from the house you sell, and you'll pay more for the house you buy," he said.

Although interest rates have bumped up a little during the past several months, they still remain low enough to give homebuyers a lot of bang for their housing buck, Percy said.