While the increase from the first to the second quarter is notable, year-over-year sales activity is still down across the state, according to the聽second quarter housing report from the 聽at the 91探花.

As measured on a seasonally adjusted basis, the home sales are on pace to total about 86,690 for the 2014 calendar year.

“While most economic statistics are reported at seasonally adjusted annual rates, these are not forecasts of future activity,” said Stephen O’Connor, Runstad Center director. “Nevertheless, at the current pace of sales we’re looking at a 7.5 percent decline in sales activity from the second quarter in 2013.”

Statewide, the median home sales price increased 7.9 percent from the same time last year and now stands at $270,900, up nearly 9 percent from the first quarter.

While the transition from the winter to the spring selling season is almost always a contributing factor, so is the lingering lack of supply, O’Connor said. This shortfall is most pronounced within the state’s major metropolitan areas. While both Snohomish and King County posted strong year-over-year increases of 10.4 percent and 7.6 percent respectively, median sales prices were lower than a year ago in 12 of the state’s 39 counties.

Local median house prices are highly variable, ranging from a low of $129,000 in Grays Harbor County to $454,000 in King County.

Given the increase in the median sales price, it was not surprising that housing affordability for all buyers statewide fell slightly to 144.2 from 152.6 a quarter ago, O’Connor said. This metric suggests that a middle-income family could afford a home selling for 44.2 percent above the median sales price, assuming a 20 percent down payment and a 30-year mortgage at prevailing rates.

Statewide, the first-time buyer index, a measure of affordability for new homeowners, also showed a small drop of 4.3 points, ending the quarter at 81. The first time buyer index measures the availability of a household earning 70 percent of the median household income to afford a home priced at 85 percent of the median value in the county.

Like the median sales price statistic, housing affordability varies widely across the state. The least affordable county is San Juan, with an all-buyer index of 90.1. Conversely, homes in Lincoln County offer the most affordability registering a value of 142.8. For first-time buyers in metropolitan areas, Benton County was again the most affordable and King County the least affordable.

The Runstad Center produces home sales statistics in partnership with Washington Realtors. Each quarterly release coincides with information from the National Association of Realtors regarding median home prices by metropolitan area.

Sales, median home prices and affordability data for all Washington counties are available at the Runstad Center鈥檚聽.

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For more information, contact Runstad Center Director Stephen O’Connor at 206-685-9989 or steveoco@uw.edu.

“The housing market is still suffering from low inventory,” said Stephen O’Connor, director of the center. “This is evidenced by decreased sales volume and by an overall decrease in available listings.”

Existing home sales declined 12.1 percent in the first quarter, which is a 7.1 percent decline from the first quarter in 2013, for a seasonally adjusted annual sale rate of 81,450 homes. This means that if the sales rate for the quarter continued for a year, that number of homes would be sold. Most economic statistics are reported at seasonally adjust annual rates, but these are not forecasts of future activity.

Compared to a year ago, the statewide median home sales price increased 8.2 percent and now stands at $248,900. This is down 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013.

Metro areas such as King and Pierce counties showed 9 percent and 12.8 percent increases, respectively, in median sales price over the same time in 2013. But median prices were lower than last year in 16 of Washington’s 39 counties, with prices in Lewis and Whitman counties at least 13 percent below last year.

Local median home prices in the state are highly variable, ranging from $70,000 in Lincoln County to $419,000 in King County.

Housing affordability for all buyers statewide ticked upward to 152.6 from 149.4 a quarter ago. This metric suggests that a middle-income family could afford a home selling for 52.6 percent above the median, provided they have a 20 percent down payment and enter into a 30-year mortgage at prevailing rates.

Statewide, the first-time buyer index showed a small gain of 1.8 points, ending the quarter at 85.3. An index of 100 would mean that a first-time home buyer has enough income to buy a starter home, or one at about 85 percent of the median price for the state.

“Low supply and slowly increasing interest rates continue to make it difficult for first-time buyers to be competitive in the market for starter homes, especially in and around Seattle,” said George McGilliard, president of Washington Realtors, which produces home sales statistics in partnership with the Runstad Center.

Housing affordability varied widely across the state. The least affordable county is currently San Juan, with an all-buyer index of 87.7.聽 Conversely, homes in Lincoln and Wahkiakum counties offer the most affordability, registering values of 404.4 and 387.9.

For first-time buyers in metropolitan areas, Benton County (the Tri-Cities area) was again the most affordable and King County the least affordable.

Each quarterly release coincides with information from the National Association of Realtors regarding median home prices by metropolitan area.

Final numbers on supply constraints, prices, building activity and more will be released next month in the center’s full Washington State Housing Market report.

Sales, median home prices and affordability data for all Washington counties are available at the Runstad Center’s聽.

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For more information, contact O’Connor at 206-685-9989 or steveoco@uw.edu.

Existing home sales during the second quarter of 2013 increased 5.4 percent from the first quarter, and 21 percent from a year ago, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual sale rate of 93,280 homes. That means that if the pace for the quarter continued unchanged for a year, that number of homes would be sold. This represents the highest sales rate in six years.

“The biggest current impediment to the housing market remains a shortage of homes available for sale,鈥� said Glenn Crellin, associate director of the center. 聽鈥淐onstruction activity is improving, but builders cannot improve availability overnight. Lenders need to release properties which have been foreclosed, but are still owned by the lender to allow the market to stabilize and prevent renewed bubble conditions.”

While quarter-to-quarter home sales increased in only half of Washington鈥檚 39 counties at seasonally adjusted annual rates, strong markets in the largest urban areas pulled the statewide tally higher, Crellin said. Declines, he said, were all in smaller communities.

“Stronger sales activity is encouraging some owners to put their homes on the market,” said Mark Kitabayashi, president of Washington Realtors, which partners with the center to produce home sales statistics. “But in many markets listings are so scarce, buyers don鈥檛 have time to see many properties before making an offer 鈥� and well-priced, move-in-ready homes sell very quickly, often with multiple offers.”

The imbalance between limited supply and strong demand resulted in a median price of $251,100 during the quarter, an increase of 6.4 percent compared with a year ago. The Seattle metropolitan area saw especially steep increases in median prices 鈥� 14.7 percent in Snohomish County, 13.8 percent in King County and 12.5 percent in Pierce County. Meanwhile, the median price declined in the Olympia and Yakima metropolitan areas.

In addition to reduced selection and higher prices, buyers are faced with somewhat higher mortgage interest rates. While an improving job market is resulting in slightly higher incomes, it does not offset the other increases, causing a decline in the affordability of housing compared with three months or a year ago.

The all-buyer affordability index was 166.6 statewide, which means that a middle-income family could afford a home 66 percent above the median price provided they have a 20 percent down payment and good credit. All 39 counties recorded index values above 100, suggesting that middle-income families statewide could afford a median-price home.

The news was worse for renters seeking to purchase their first home. The statewide measure dipped back below 100, registering a score of 99.5, with 14 counties similarly below 100. Since it is traditionally a challenge to obtain that first home, Crellin said he thinks a first-time buyer index of 80 represents a reasonable opportunity for renters to qualify for a home. Unfortunately, five counties, including King County 鈥� which recorded the lowest index in the state (71.0) 鈥� fell below that line.

Sales, median home prices and affordability data for each of Washington’s 39 counties are available on the Runstad Center’s .

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For more information, contact Crellin at 206-685-8020 or crellin@uw.edu.