Our inventory of “homes for sale” remained essentially unchanged from the month of July 2010.  Our total sales experienced as slight decline from the previous month, but substantially less than a year ago where 342 sales were reported during August 2009 as compared to 223 sales for August 2010.  One reason for the discrepancy is that the federal stimulus funding caused buyers to buyer sooner than they had originally planned. It will take the market to adjust to this external influence.   Our total sales for the year so far have exceeded the sales for last year.    The growing economy and the federal stimulus are primary reasons for this growth.  

If we review the pending sales for the period May-Aug, we have indications that the market may be slowing.  For instance, last year during this period we had a total of 1655 pending sales as compared to 1167 pending sales for this year.  Our market continues to indicate higher average and median prices than one year ago.

Personally, I believe the upcoming election may have an influence on the Tri-City market.  If the federal government reduces its overall spending, this could have an impact upon local budgets.  Budgets impact upon jobs and jobs impact upon the housing market.