Unignorable Slowdown In Tacoma
Surprise, surprise—Barbara Clements of the Tacoma News Tribune reports on a slowing market in Tacoma!
If your home's taking longer to sell, you're not alone.Kudos to Ms. Clements for actually telling the full story of the housing situation in Pierce County. It's only a matter of time before King County starts to see numbers like these. Maybe then our local reporters won't be able to ignore the reality that the slowdown is upon us. Maybe.
Home prices are still going up, even though sales have dropped dramatically when compared with 2005.
And now that it's spring – prime home-shopping weather – more for-sale signs are popping up in neighborhoods around the South Sound. (Sellers: Read that as "more competition.")
...
More homes on the market
The Pierce County market has seen a surge of home listings, up 29 percent compared with this time last year.
Fewer transactions
Pending sales, in which offers are made and accepted but not yet closed, dropped by 12 percent last month versus 2005.
...
Local brokers are puzzling over what this means as they look toward the traditional summer selling season. Dick Beeson, MLS director and broker with Windermere Real Estate/Commencement Associates in Tacoma, said the market seems to be "taking a bit of a breath." "We just don't know how big a breath," he added. "We don't know if it's a big gulp or kind of a sigh."
(Barbara Clements, Tacoma News Tribune, 05.06.2006)
9 comments:
This article's an example of good reporting and informing the public of the actual RE situation so they are really armed with info they need if they're in process of decision making.
Nextquestion: When is ANY news organzation in Seattle going to step up to the plate and do a bit of public-informing?
The KOMO news RE rahrah blurb last night was a disgrace to the profession. Hideous.
the situation in Tacoma's only going to get worse when all those new condo conversions hit the market at the same time...
builders know they have to sell it this summer or lose big... buyers are just waiting till summer is over...
the only thing hot this summer will be the weather...(and that's not even that hot)
I'm planning on dropping KOMO a note about their flagrant pandering story on last nights news.
First thing I did when I got up this AM was look up their website.
dukes,
I've written to a few of these reporters and sadly, the only thing you get back regarding an informed discussion is "well, to each their own opinion" and "we'll just all have to wait and see". They're overly objective when writing back to you about the story, and brush of any criticism about their reporting as... 'both sides'. But sadly they never interview an economist or escrow people or anything that might be looking into the clunky guts of the wonderfully shiny machine, that is local RE
reporters don't like admitting that their story has holes... it makes them sound incompetent... (which some of them are)
Unlike the interview journalists, reporters just spit out the lines that show on the teleprompter...
given the nature of live broadcasts they don't even know what they're reading until after they've read it...
now the question is who's writing the news...
Hi folks....I've been keeping track of inventory every day for the last week or so. It's climbing everyday...are we starting to see the conditions for a slow down in Seattle (i.e., higher inventory and less sales?). Won't know for sure until the #s come out next month. If sales go up in tandem with inventory then prices will hold...but if not then we could see some price reductions.
Here's the data:
Date King County/Seattle
Apr.27 6,841/1,967
Apr.28 6,916/1,989
Apr.29 6,992/2,003
Apr.30 6,995/2,008
May 1 6,977/2,010
May 2 6,969/2,014
May 3 6,984/2,051
May 4 6,995/2,047
May 5 7,091/2,065
May 6 7,213/2,113
May 7 7,249/2,127
So there's a clear upward trend in inventory. That's normal for this time of year. Here are some #s from previous years:
May 2005 6,782/1,827
May 2004 9,792/2,454
May 2003 12,422/3,169
May 2002 11,034/2,711
May 2001 10,484/2,719
So it seems pretty clear that despite rising inventory, King County and Seattle are currently well below historical norms for inventory. But it could build up fast, and if sales slow then prices drop.
'm
Again, the real sign of a slowdown
is rising inventory and slowing
sales. Prices always lag.
I am a seller in the midwest market
and know for sure that the market
there is flooded with inventory.
We have dropped price once and
will have to drop again.
Unfortunately I do not see that
kind of inventory buildup here (eastside specifically). The 2%
increase is too meager to mean
much.
Only time will tell which way the
seattle market is going to go
Barbara-
You are totally ,absolutely amazing and well-admired by truth seekers everywhere.
I am SURE that you took a LOT of flack for reporting facts and I and many others thank you for sticking to your guns.
You deserve a major promotion. Major!
That's Seattle Price Drop above. Can't sign in with my name- always comes out Anon.
We've been having constant sales under Asking in Seattle to, but nobody ever pays attention to that. Focus is intense on the handful of properties that go over asking.
Would you please move to Seattle and start reporting for the Seattle Times?!!
Seattle Price Drop
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