Local property sales seeing improvement

Written by Dave Gallagher | The Bellingham Herald | October 16, 2009

Whatcom County’s monthly property sales are starting to trend like last year, according to a new report from First American Title.

In September there were 172 total property sales in Bellingham, which nearly equals the September 2008 total of 175 sales. Total property sales include residential, commercial, industrial and undeveloped land. This is an improvement from earlier this year, when property sales were down more than 25 percent. Year-to-date, total property sales are down 21.8 percent compared to the same nine months in 2008.

In Ferndale, Lynden and Blaine there were 159 properties sold in September, up from 144 in September 2008. Much of the increase was in used single-family home properties, which was up 31 percent year-over-year. Year-to-date, total property sales in these three communities are down 18.8 percent compared to the first three quarters of 2008.