Home inventory for Tacoma area still low & prices still high but market is slowly turning

The adjustment to a more balanced real estate market in Puget Sound area counties is slow-going, but Pierce County was among those that saw lower closed sales volume compared with a year ago.

Latest figures released Wednesday from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service showed Pierce County’s median closed sale price for single-family homes at $568,575, still up more than 10 percent from the same time last year but down from $582,000 in May and $579,980 in April.

Closed sales were down more than 16 percent in June from 2021, following a 5.49 percent year-over-year increase in May.

The median closed sale price for condos was $420,000, up 13.67 percent from last year and up from $410,000 in May. Closed sales were down 21.67 percent from 2021, and in May were down more than 22 percent from a year ago.

All of this follows Redfin’s May report when Tacoma saw nearly half of its listings drop in price, compared with just 28.2 percent of listings dropping in price in May 2021.

Meanwhile, seven counties had year over year price hikes of 19 percent or more for June sales of single-family homes and condos, according to NWMLS: Douglas, Ferry, Jefferson, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason and Whatcom.

Kellie Van Essen, an agent with John L. Scott Tacoma University Place office, told The News Tribune last month that buyers could still find deals, but you had to spend some time looking and they’re not yet everywhere or all that common.

“A lot of my first-time home buyers are looking at the south and the east side and also the Hilltop over by St. Joe’s (hospital). There’s little pockets … even over by the Narrows Bridge.”

“Proctor is still a very kind of desirable and pretty hot area,” she added. “But if you go just a little bit outside even a little bit off Proctor … they’re pockets all over the place.”

While interest rates have risen, in Van Essen’s opinion they are “still fabulous.” The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage Wednesday was 5.63 percent, down 0.37 percent from the previous week, according to Forbes.

Neighboring Kitsap County saw its median closed sale price for single-family homes hit $600,000 for June, up 17.65 percent from a year ago and up from $554,550 in May, with closed sales down 10.16 percent year over year.

Frank Leach, broker/owner at RE/MAX Platinum Services in Silverdale, noted in Wednesday’s release that both pending and closed sales slipped year over year, but prices still surged.

“Kitsap is in a building boom and builders are racing to meet demand,” he said, also noting that while open houses have resumed, traffic “was off” at the end of June, which he suggested could have been not only from inclement weather but also graduations competing for buyers’ time.

Closed sales in King County were down more than 22 percent from a year ago, with its median closed sale price at $938,225, up more than 9 percent from last year but down from $998,888 in May.

Snohomish County’s closed median sale price in June was $799,950, while Mason County was at $462,500 and Thurston County at $525,000. Each saw lower closed sales compared with a year ago.

For Pierce as well as many other counties, total active listings were more than 100 percent beyond the number active in June 2021, but months of inventory still hovered around a month’s worth, more proof of how much has to happen to replenish depleted inventories in the area.

Windermere chief economist Matthew Gardner explained as much in Wednesday’s release.

“The pandemic heavily influenced the housing market with inventory levels essentially drying up in 2020/2021,” he said.

For June, he noted single-family home listings in the tri-county area of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties rose more than 144 percent compared with a year ago.

“This still represents the fourth lowest number of listings in any June for this region since 1999,” he added.

Frank Wilson, Kitsap regional manager at John L. Scott Real Estate, noted that his county is “nowhere close to flipping to a buyer’s market,” given the still-low inventory.

But with new listings can come the lowering of prices, eventually. “This is a good thing, not a cause for concern,” Gardner noted.