Housing sales slump continues

COEUR d'ALENE - Single-family home sales and prices through October in Kootenai County are slightly behind last year.

According to the latest report from the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Association, 1,397 single-family homes have sold in the county through the first 10 months of this year, down 1 percent for the same time frame last year.

The average sales price fell 4 percent to $185,329.

Overall sales volume for all listings, from mobile homes to waterfront properties, rose 12 percent to $462.7 million.

Pete Faust, a Realtor with Century 21 Beutler and Associates, said closings "picked up a bit" from September.

In Coeur d'Alene/Dalton, single-family sales through October were at 605, up 2 percent, while the average price was down 2 percent to $182,141.

In Post Falls, home sales were down 9 percent to 439, while the average price was $173,077, a 3 percent decline.

In Hayden, home sales were up 15 percent to 216, while the average sales price was down 7 percent to $223,150.

In Rathdrum/Twin Lakes, single-family home sales were down 12 percent to 92, while the average price fell 12 percent to $161,050.

The MLS reported that 64 percent of all residential sales in October were for less than $200,000. Only one home sold for more than a $1 million in October, while 40 homes sold for less than $100,000.

The average sales price of a single-family home with three bedrooms and two baths was $177,589, with an average 135 days on the market.

In comparison, the average sales price of a similar single-family home in October 2008 was $168,326, with an average of 120 days on the market.

All told, the MLS reported there were 3,886 homes listed for sale in October, down 6.2 percent from a year ago.

Waterfront home sales through October totaled 76, according to the MLS, which was up 9 percent from 2009. However, the average sale price of a waterfront home was $588,496, down 26 percent.