Second Quarter 2016 Pierce County Housing Report

When is a "HOT MARKET" not Hot?  and….Are you one of the Pierce County Homeowners poised to "beat the market"?!  There is a way to out-perform this crazy market using current trends!  More on that below, first the Pierce County headline numbers

 
Inventory – DOWN – 21.5%

Closings – UP – 5.3%

Median Price – UP – 13.6%

New Pending Contracts – UP – 24.1%

These headline numbers show us the market continues to roll through the summer and buying in this market can be challenging with a high level of increased sales with the backdrop of decreased inventory.  What would you say if I told you  you could leverage this market in your favor?  It's not for everyone but if you're in the market for a larger, or more luxurious home while selling your median priced home, you could be in for a big advantage. Maybe the waterfront or the view you've always dreamed of is within reach!

You know I love Sales Ratios as a tool for measuring market effectiveness.  Click here for a refresher on Sales Ratios.  The Pierce County Market is not performing with the same effectiveness throughout the price spectrum. You can see under $500,000 is HOT! Above $500,000 the market fundamentally falls off pretty drastically. 

The way to trick this intense market into working in your favor will begin to be revealed with a look at where the home sales are concentrated. It doesn't take long to see the "high-end" is not performing the same as the median or lower price ranges.  I defined the high end in Pierce County as;  2.5 x median price in combined markets of North Tacoma, University Place and Gig Harbor.  So, $359,000 x 2.5 = $900,000.  Looking at the chart below and the layers of market intensity are quite visible.

By the way, turns out this is nothing new, Pierce County has recorded about 95% of all sales below the $500,000 price level for….well….ever.

The strategic move here says Captain Obvious, "If it is possible with your circumstances to sell in a lower price sector and buy up into a higher one, the negotiation table should be in your favor." If you are selling in a price range where there is only 1.3 months of inventory and a sales ratio of 87%, prices are likely moving up and you can sell at a premium.  The farther up the price tree you climb the worse the fundamentals are for sellers and the more things are in favor of buyers. 

This market condition is important for high end sellers to realize. It may be "new" news to Pierce County luxury home sellers because there has been so much talk of the "hot" market, but I haven't seen a report break it down by price. 

As you can see the overall market averages are impressive and the market is really good! That said, it reminds me of an old saying.  "If you have one bare foot in a bucket of hot coals and the other in a bucket of ice, 'on average'…you should be fine!"

Drop me a line if you have any questions or comments, it's always good to hear from you!