Are homes selling in Sequim and Port Angeles? In the first four months of this year sales are down. We all know that. I was going to write, “That’s not front page news,” but it still is. The market has taken a beating around the country, especially because of the mortgage fiasco. When sales slow down in California, Arizona, Texas, and around Seattle, our buyers have to postpone their plans to purchase their retirement homes here.

But exactly how much is Sequim and Port Angeles down in home sales? Here I compare the first quarter of each year since 2000.

This chart shows that home sales for Sequim and Port Angeles combined for January through April of 2008 are at pre-2003 levels. But let’s face it–the real estate market really took off in 2003 through 2005 with great residual through 2007.

The market is down. No doubt. But consider this: in the first four months of this year 166 houses sold in Sequim and Port Angeles. Buyers are still arriving. That is good. Those who are at the retirement point and have planned to move here, are still coming, unless their real estate market is so slow they can’t sell their homes.

The economy and the real estate market in the U.S. is amazingly resilient. I predict a reasonably good real estate market through the spring and summer in Sequim and Port Angeles. It is an excellent time to buy, and if you’re selling, a good home in a good area has not lost value in these past months. The threshold of value remains strong.