Seattle Luxury Market sees a nice improvement in July

Since May '08, the luxury market in Seattle (homes priced $1MM or more) steadily went down, with the low point being in December.  Since December, sales notched up just a bit, but have been pretty low and flat since then.  However, July saw a big increase in sales.  There was a 25% increase in homes sold over June and a 50% increase in pending sales.  Months of inventory also dramatically fell in July to 24 months (down from 31 months in June).  While the increase in sales in July was welcome news for those sellers, the figure is still 50% less than the same time last year.  Will this positive increase in pending sales in the luxury market continue?  We expect it to, as more options become available for $1MM+ loans, and the positive swing in the stock market over the last month is also an important factor at this price range.  With such a large inventory remaining, prices will remain soft and buyers can move up into that dream home they may have never been able to afford in the past.