Main Street has a handful of commercial real estate vacancies that are open to fill. Posh On Main, Christi’s On Main, Salute, Refined Woodworks Inc., and Ambiente Spa are all businesses that have recently left Main Street, leaving opportunities for new tenants. In addition to these existing locations, One Main Street has a few available retail locations as well that haven’t been occupied.

What is missing on Main Street - More clothing and other retail boutiques, restaurant and bars, or other service-oriented stores? See the article on downtownbellevue.com and share your ideas using the comment tool.

January saw a boost in activity according to officials from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Members are reporting a 28% increase in pending sales from a year ago, and King County improved the most with pending sales increasing by almost 50% compared with January last year.

Two other indicators of activity fell – inventory and sale prices.  Compared to a year ago there were 3,915 fewer single family home and condominium listings, a drop of about 10%. Sale prices also declined, by almost 5% from last year’s figures at this time.

First-time buyers have increased activity and the higher price ranges also seem to be gaining momentum according to Joe Spencer, the president and COO of John L. Scott Real Estate. He attributes historically low interest rates, great affordability and home buyer tax credits as factors for helping to “push us into a more stable market”. He expects this momentum to continue in upcoming months.

11,206 new listings were added to inventory during January by NWMLS members including 9,269 single family homes and 1,937 condominiums, bringing the month-end total to 34,256 listings which is down more than 10% from a year ago.

NWMLS members tallied 5,579 pending sales during January, up 28.2% from last year. For King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties the number of pending sales jumped nearly 35% led by King County’s increase of 47.4%.

Currently there’s a 6.1 month supply, economists consider a supply of 3-6 months to be a balanced market.

“The market has definitely picked up, with more interest and action by buyers,” reports Dick Beeson, broker/owner of Windermere Commencement Associates in Tacoma and a member of the NWMLS board. “Sellers are expecting better results this year than last, but not necessarily higher prices.”

The median sales price for last month’s closed sales of single family homes and condos combined was $259,903, down almost 5% from a year ago. Compared to December, prices fell about 1.9 percent area-wide, with eight counties showing increases. In King County, last month’s median price of $350,000 for single family home sales was unchanged from December.

Click here for the full NWMLS News Release for January 2010 activity.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service members tallied more than 52,000 single family home and condominium sales in 2009, about 3.7% fewer than 2008, for a combined sales value of more than $17 billion. This report reflects activity of members in 19 counties encompassing nearly eighty percent of the state’s population.

Although the number of sales nearly matched 2008 levels, the dollar volume of the sales fell by 14.6%. Brokers attribute the drop to lower selling prices and higher volume of short sales and foreclosures.

Among the 19 counties included in this report, San Juan claimed the highest median sales price for single family homes at $443,500. King County followed at $380,000. System-wide the median price last year was $280,000.

For condos the median selling price was $235,000, down 7.3% from 2008. King County accounted for 6 out of every 10 condo sales, selling for a median price of $254,000.

Other highlights in the Annual MLS Summary:

• More than 8 out of 10 transactions was a “co-op” sale; listed by one office and sold by another.
• Single family homes accounted for 87% of total sales.
• 802 sales of single family homes fetched $1 million or more. The MLS map area for Bellevue/west of I-405 had the highest volume of million-dollar plus sales (120 closed sales). The highest priced home sale in the MLS system for 2009 was $15,560,000 for a home on Mercer Island.
• Reported 66 sales of condos sold for $1 million or more, 392 condos sold for $500,000 or more. Highest priced condo sold last year was in downtown Seattle for $9,750,000.