While the economy has shown a few signs of recovery, stasitics locally reflect this is tepid at best in these recent stories:

1. “Housing sales fall throughout South Sound in 2010”
“Housing sales fell during 2010 compared to a year earlier throughout the South Sound, and with the exception of Mason County, so did the median price, according to the latest information from Northwest Multiple Listing Service… .

In Thurston County, sales were down 3.54 percent, falling from 2,938 during 2009 to 2,834 last year. The median price was off 3.79 percent, falling from $239,000 during 2009 to $229,950 during 2010,” quoting the Business Examiner.

2. “New-home sales in 2010 fall to lowest in 47 years”
“Buyers purchased the fewest number of new homes last year on records going back 47 years.

Sales for all of 2010 totaled 321,000, a drop of 14.4 percent from the 375,000 homes sold in 2009, the Commerce Department said Wednesday [Jan. 26]. It was the fifth consecutive year that sales have declined after hitting record highs for the five previous years when the housing market was booming,” quoting the AP on KING-5 TV News.

3. “Thurston County bankruptcies rose 10 percent to 1,270 in 2010”
“Thurston County bankruptcy filings rose to 1,270 in 2010, a 10 percent increase over 2009, and experts say the pace of filings likely won’t decline in the new year because unemployment remains high and many people still are struggling with their mortgages, ” quoting Rolf Boone in The Olympian.

Ed. Note:
Falling home sales and dropping home median prices equate to less tax revenue for area governments, which continiues to hamper budgets. Be prepared for more cutbacks, not only on the state level, yet particularly affecting local cities.