What happened to Bellingham home sales in January 2010? If we look at the data, January certainly is inconsistent with what was happening in previous months, and with what was happening a year ago. The number of homes coming on the market has increased--477, up from 461 (see graph below). But the number of sales dropped to 37, down from 79. The bottom graph shows months of inventory (# of months it would take to sell everything curently for sale). Months of inventory is at nearly 13. That's a very high number, especially in comparison to the previous months where the market was trending down into the 5's and 6's. (When months of inventory is below 5, it is considered to be a seller's market, and prices at least stabilize or may begin to go up.)

 

It's difficult to interpret these data. Sales are up in February. Maybe January is just a blip in the data. In a month or two, we will have a better understanding of what is happening now. For now, we can just speculate.