Open House will be on hiatus for the next week. Look for posts to resume June 2.

Here's a look at a national housing market measure that tracks prices by quarter: U.S. home prices posted their sharpest first-quarter decline since the government began tracking the data 17 years ago, according to The Associated Press.

The Washington, D.C.-based Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said Thursday that home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter compared with last year. The index also fell 1.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, the largest quarterly price drop on record.

This particular index follows only transactions purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and which meet their conforming guidelines, meaning the loans could be for no more than $417,000 last year. As of Feb. 2008, that figure could go as high as $729,750 in some parts of the country. (The conforming loan limit in Pierce County is $567,500.)

I took a look at the report and Washington saw year-over-year appreciation in the federal index of 2.9 percent, though a quarter-to-quarter drop of 0.38 percent. Several states, in fact, posted modest gains, though there were some notable exceptions, primarily in the areas you would expect: Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona.

And a couple of Washington cities stood out for their house appreciation stats: Wenatchee came in No. 3 (+8 percent) and Yakima No. 17 (+5.7 percent) among the country's top 20 metropolitan areas for year-over-year price increases. The Tacoma area was ranked No. 140 (+1.6 percent), the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area was No. 93 (+2.8 percent) and the Bremerton-Silverdale area was No. 176 (+O.48 percent).

Here's a graphic from the report showing how Washington has tracked in recent quarters:

A story in the LA Times that ran several days ago has been bouncing around blogs and into my email inbox ever since, so I thought you might like to check it out. Apparently, the idea that homeowners are skipping out on their mortgages might be just an idea.

The story, which you can find here, says it is hard to find much evidence to support the notion that people are walking out on their mortgages and mailing their keys back to banks -- a practice that has been dubbed "jingle mail" in real estate circles.

I found this portion of the story to be particularly eye catching:

Bruce Marks, CEO of Neighborhood Assistance Corp., a Boston-based nonprofit agency that helps strapped homeowners, says flat out that the notion that legions of borrowers are simply deciding not to pay is an "urban myth" that largely reflects the mortgage industry's desire to blame homeowners, rather than their lenders, for the surge in problem loans.

Marks and others assert that mortgage bankers have an incentive to blame the rise in delinquencies and foreclosures on borrowers skipping out on obligations they're financially able to meet, because that diverts attention from the lenders' own role in the mortgage crisis.

With the Internet portrayed as so important in today's new-home search, what percentage of buyers would you think said information found online had a major impact on their decision? According to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, just 11 percent of buyers said the Internet had a major impact.

And I promise I didn’t know this additional factoid until I got two pages into the survey results (and had already started writing this post), but the survey points out the Internet is far from the only place people are looking for homes. They also use newspapers (49 percent) and real estate agents (47 percent).

Of those who used the Internet in their housing search, according to the survey:
• 57 percent said the online info reduced the number of places they looked at
• 29 percent said such info helped them save money on their house or apartment
• 23 percent said the Internet had a major impact on their housing decision
• 42 percent said it had no impact at all

So a friend of mine used MLS4owners.com to list his house for sale a couple months ago. And then decided to not sell his house this year and canceled the listing. Can you guess what happened over the course of the subsequent weeks? No less than 20 real estate agents phoned him, a few of them calling multiple times – even after he asked them to stop – trying to nab the listing.

Is this what canceled MLS listings are for? From a consumer’s standpoint, it seems if you pay money to list your house using the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (it costs $595 through MLS4owners.com), you’re not paying to be solicited.

Ken Whitney, general manager at MLS4owners.com, said two customers have complained this year about such unwanted solicitations.

I called Dick Beeson, an MLS director and Windermere broker, to see if any MLS rules were being violated and he said the information on listings is fair game once they are expired or canceled. And, he said, 70 percent of listings that go off the market end up relisted with another agent, providing incentive to call. But he did note that it’s not good form to continue phoning when a seller has said he’s pursuing other options.

One way a consumer can avoid such phone calls is to be listed as an undisclosed seller, which requires sending a letter to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service before the listing goes active. This allows you to keep your phone number off of the listing. However, if you sell by owner or go through MLS4owners.com, you are acting on your own behalf and your information will be up for grabs during and after your home is for sale.

The latest foreclosure numbers released Wednesday continue to place Washington state in the middle of the pack, at No. 26 in the nation, according to RealtyTrac.

There was one foreclosure-related filing statewide for every 1,126 households in April, an increase of 36.5 percent from the same month in 2007.

Pierce County came in No. 2 in the state with one foreclosure filing for every 583 households, a year-over-year increase of 105 percent.

Elsewhere, Nevada took the country’s top foreclosure spot with one filing for every 146 households. Vermont was No. 50, with no foreclosure filings. RealtyTrac follows default and auction notices and bank repossessions.

Big changes to who appraises homes and how they're selected could be coming your way next year, according to a column I spotted at the LA Times by Kenneth R. Harney.

The intention is to clean up a process thought to be muddied by inflated appraisals, which some believe led to today’s home price declines.

Here are some of the key aspects of the deal, which was agreed to earlier this year in New York by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Attny. Gen. Andrew M. Cuomo, according to the story:

• Mortgage brokers, who originate roughly 60% of all new loans, no longer would be allowed to select or pay appraisers.

• In-house appraisers at banks and mortgage firms no longer would be permitted to do appraisals for loans to be funded by their organizations.

• Lenders would not be able to use appraisals generated by management companies -- firms that contract with networks of appraisers nationwide -- if they have a significant financial stake in the management company.

But, for many reasons, industry groups are pushing back, saying that consumers would spend more time and money getting an appraisal on a home they'd like to buy.

Find the full story here.

When I was reporting my story about new construction that ran last week, I had a long and interesting conversation with Gayl Van Natter at Bennett Homes about the urban village concept in Gig Harbor the builder started selling in September. And why sales, which she called disappointing, aren’t coming together as she had expected they would.

The homes at Harbor Crossing built by Bennett Homes are priced starting in the mid-$400s and range in size from 1,800 to 2,600 square feet. (The Dwelling Co. also is building homes at Harbor Crossing.) Because they are meant to mimic an urban setting, the homes are close together – 10 feet between them – and some have shared access to driveways and minimal yard spaces. They are a few blocks from a new Costco and YMCA and other retailers, so the expectation was that buyers would seize the opportunity to live and play in one place.

But Van Natter said locals aren’t taking to the urban village idea.

“The people who come from Gig Harbor go through our models, love them, but just can’t wrap their brain around them being so close,” said Van Natter, who added that perhaps proximity to the water would make the urban-ness an easier sell.

Also, she said, buyers tend to associate Gig Harbor with larger properties. Van Natter said that completion of the hospital, as an additional amenity and a supply of workers who might become home buyers, should help. But, so far, all buyers have come from out of state.

“I think the product is way ahead of it’s time in Gig Harbor,” said Van Natter, who emphasized that the company continues to expect great things from its harbor-area projects.

What do you think? Is this kind of close-knit neighborhood out of place in Gig Harbor? If so, aren’t there homes in highly desirable North Tacoma on similarly small lots and quite close together? Do people want to walk to Costco and the Y? Do people want urban-type settings as much as builders think they do?

Every month, I provide a breakdown of Pierce County home price and sales activity stats when the newest numbers are released from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. And every month I get queries and requests from those who want info for areas not on the list.

Here’s how the breakdown works: There are 103 cities or neighborhoods in Pierce County grouped into 17 larger geographic areas – the 17 for which I’m given MLS statistics. Which means that Spanaway and Anderson Island each get one of the 17 entries in the list but the Key Peninsula and Fox Island are part of the Gig Harbor numbers. These are how the numbers are provided by the MLS. I am unable to get a more detailed report when the new monthly release is sent.

The boundaries for each MLS area have been decided and are occasionally revised by real estate brokers for marketing purposes, according to MLS spokeswoman Cheri Brennan. They tend to not follow city limits and are a blending of the boundaries established long ago when the Northwest MLS combined with the MLS operated by the Tacoma-Pierce County Association of Realtors until 1997.

So that everyone knows where their area falls within the Pierce County MLS areas, here’s a look at the 17 I profile every month and the additional parts of the county that are grouped with each, plus the approximate boundaries for the four Tacoma categories.

Anderson Island
Bonney Lake/Lake Tapps: Buckley, Wilkeson, Carbona, Orting, part of Sumner
Browns Point: Northeast Tacoma
DuPont: Steilacoom, Ketron Island, part of Lakewood, Tillicum
Eatonville: Greenwater, Clear Lake, Ashofrd, Elbe, Alder, Tanwax Lake, Kapo, part of Graham
Fife: Milton, Edgewood, Sumner
Gig Harbor: Purdy, Rosedal, Key Pensinula, Fox Island, Artondale
Lakewood
Parkland
Puyallup: Frederickson, part of Graham
Roy: McKenna, Harts Lake
Spanaway
Tacoma, Central: 6th Avenue to State Route 16 and Center Street and much of downtown
Tacoma, North: Everything north of 6th Avenue until about Pearl, then everything north of State Route 16
Tacoma, South: State Route 16 and I-5 to South 96th Street and along I-5 to around South 84th Street, Sourth Orchard St. to Park Avenue and part of Highway 7
Tacoma, Southeast: I-5 to South 84th Street along McKinley Avenue to East 72nd Street, Park Avenue
University Place/Fircrest: Part of Tacoma

Two national pieces this week provide a point-counterpoint to the ongoing debate on where the bottom of the real estate market exists and where we might find it.

First, a Wall Street Journal column by a hedge fund manager who thinks the worst is over. Thanks to Dick Beeson, Windermere broker and MLS director, who forwarded me the piece.

An excerpt:

The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now.

How can this be? For starters, a bottom does not mean that prices are about to return to the heady days of 2005. That probably won't happen for another 15 years. It just means that the trend is no longer getting worse, which is the critical factor.

But then there’s the formerly-upbeat-but-now-skeptical David Lereah, the former forecaster for the National Association of Realtors. He’s profiled in a Newsweek column I came across at the LA Times.

An excerpt:

"We're not at the bottom," he says. "[People] want it to be near the bottom, but we're not there yet. The leading indicators are still very bad. Pending home sales are still in bad shape. Mortgage applications are low … There's still supply out there in abundance … This thing is going to get worse before it gets better."

Year-over-year sales activity was all over the place in Pierce County in April, from an increase of 72.4 percent in Lakewood to a decrease of 62.7 percent in Central Tacoma, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Overall, county sales declined 18.9 percent in April compared to the same month in 2007.

Keep in mind that this is a one-month snapshot with some areas selling as few as a couple dozen homes during the month. It’s instructive, however, to look at where these areas were a year ago and are now as the spring selling season kicks off.

Here are the number of homes, including houses and condos, sold in each area with the corresponding rise or decline compared to April 2007, according to the MLS.

Despite a countywide drop in the median home price last month, several areas within Pierce County managed slim to moderate gains. Below you’ll find last month’s price for 16 of the areas tracked by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service and how it compares to median prices in April 2007. The median means half sold for more and half sold for less.

Because I don’t provide numbers for areas that had less than 10 sales, you won’t find price changes for Anderson Island, where just two homes sold in April.

The biggest price increase came in Browns Point. The largest decline in year-over-year prices? Parkland.

Tomorrow I’ll provide closed sales numbers for some additional perspective. As a preview, three areas saw sales drop year-over-year by close to 50 percent. Overall, the county had an 18.9 percent decline in sales.

And later in the week I’ll give a detailed list of which areas are included in each of the 17 for which the MLS gives me stats each month. For example, the Roy area also includes McKenna and Harts Lake. And Gig Harbor also has stats for the Key Pensinsula, Fox Island and other parts of Pierce County.

The latest home sale numbers from the Northwest MLS show yet another year-over-year price decrease in Pierce County. April prices fell 4.3 percent compared to the same month in 2007 to $263,051.

Look for more details on the April numbers in tomorrow’s News Tribune and for the area breakdowns on Open House later this week. For now, here’s a look at the year-over-year price increases and decreases during the last year.

2008
April: -4.3 percent
March: -6.02 percent
February: -7.8 percent
January: -2.5 percent

2007
December: +.01 percent
November: -4.4 percent
October: -1.4 percent
September: -2.4 percent
August: +4.4 percent
July: +3.3 percent
June: +0.82 percent
May: +6.9 percent
April: +3.2 percent

These home sales numbers for the first 114 days of the year offer additional perspective on how readily the lowest-priced homes are selling and where. These numbers tally year-to-date closed sales on homes priced under $250,000 and reveal that in most areas sales of such homes are off compared to the same period last year. The numbers, from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, come courtesy of Dick Beeson, a Windermere broker and MLS director.

As I mentioned earlier this week, digging into these numbers was part of determining whether or not more sales of the cheapest homes was contributing to months of declines in the county's median home price. Year-to-date sales of homes in all price ranges are off 17 percent, so unless you're in Puyallup, the Eatonville area or Lakewood these numbers show that far fewer of the lowest-priced homes are selling.