The media reports that the Real Estate market is floundering and close to death. Is that true for the South Puget Sound?

As a Realtor®, I am able to access tools that the general public doesn’t have. With these tools I created the following tables:


Prices of homes that have sold March, 2008 compared to one year ago:

City/County _____March 2007 ____March 2008 _____%Difference
Pierce County _____318,000 ______305,000 __________-4.0
Bonney Lake ______316,000 ______308,000 __________-2.5
DuPont __________333,000 ______387,000 _________+16.2
Fife ____________310,000 ______271,000 __________-12.5
Firecrest _________369,000 ______310,000 __________-15.9
Gig Harbor ________444,000 ______469,000 __________+5.6
Lakewood _________254,000 ______263,000 __________+3.5
Puyallup __________302,000 ______290,000 __________-3.9
Spanaway _________260,000 ______253,000 __________-2.7
Sumner ___________394,000 ______304,000 _________-22.8
Tacoma ___________272,000 ______273,000 __________-0.4
University Place _____478,000 ______375,000 _________-21.5


Thurston County _____280,000 ______294,000 _________+5.0
Lacey _____________267,000 ______295,000 _________-10.4
Olympia ___________308,000 ______331,000 __________-7.4
Yelm ______________243,000 ______220,000 __________+9.4



Prices of homes that have sold January, 2008 compared to March, 2008:

City/County _____January, 2008 ____March, 2008 ______% Difference
Pierce County ________288,000 ______305,000 __________+5.9
Bonney Lake _________350,000 ______308,000 _________-12.0
DuPont _____________357,000 ______387,000 __________+8.4
Fife ________________293,000 ______271,000 __________-7.5
Firecrest ____________284,000 ______310,000 __________+9.2
Gig Harbor __________426,000 _______469,000 _________+10.0
Lakewood ___________262,000 _______263,000 __________+0.4
Puyallup ____________277,000 _______290,000 __________+5.0
Spanaway ___________264,000 _______253,000 __________-4.2
Sumner _____________250,000 _______304,000 _________+21.6
Tacoma _____________247,000 _______273,000 _________+10.5
University Place _______316,000 _______375,000 _________+18.7


Thurston County _______297,000 _______294,000 _________-1.0
Lacey _______________279,000 _______295,000 _________+5.7
Olympia _____________342,000 _______331,000 __________-3.2
Yelm _______________229,000 _______220,000 __________-3.9

*This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the NWMLS. Neither the Board or its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Board or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. Report reflects activity by all brokers participated in the MLS.


These statistics originate from data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, www.nwmls.com. The prices of homes have dropped from a year ago last March. That was a correction that needed to happen. Home prices were going up so fast and so high that new home buyers were being priced out of the market. Without new home buyers to purchase their homes, current home owners cannot move up to a larger home. Without people who can purchase higher priced homes, the Real Estate market will stall. However, if you look at the prices of houses in the Sound Puget Sound area for the first three months of this year, you will see that in most areas prices have started to rise again. This is not true for all areas; however in a normal market areas differ in their pricing and the pace at which they sell. In Pierce County in general, the price of a home has risen in the first quarter of 2008. There is great concern over the future of our national economy. This concern has driven the mortgage interest rates down. There are many parts of the country where the Real Estate market is having great difficulty recovering from the sub-prime mortgage hit. While we are not isolated from the national economy, this area has one of the strongest economies in the country. It is a good time to take advantage of the low interest rates and the high inventory of houses. As soon as the Federal Reserve Bank sees a slight turn around in the economy, they will be wary of inflation and the interest rates will rise.

In my next blog, I will talk about foreclosures and where we stand in relation to the rest of the country in this area.

Marc