Puyallup Realtor and president of Washington Realtors Bill Riley was fully attentive and simply pleased Tuesday at numbers released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
“This is good,” he said, pointing to a figure showing pending home sales in Pierce County in December were up 30.19 percent over the same month in 2008.
“That’s good news,” he said. “Any time pending sales are up 30 percent, you have to pay attention.”
Other data – all concerning residential and condominium sales – released Tuesday by Northwest MLS show:
• Active listings decreased 19.14 percent in December, with 5,106 listings on the books compared with 6,315 the year before.
• There were 746 pending sales in the county in December, up from 573 in 2008.
• The median price for homes sold in December in Pierce County was $215,000, down 8.51 percent from $235,000 in 2008.
• In Thurston County, the median price was down similarly by 8.29 percent from $249,500 to $229,218.
• Statewide, the median price fell 7.02 percent to $265,000, down from $285,000 a year before.
• Statewide, pending home sales were up 35.15 percent, while in Thurston County, pending sales fell 5 percent. King County saw one of the state’s highest increases in pending sales, up 51.41 percent in December, according to MLS.
• Pending sales of condos rose 26.77 percent statewide for the month, with 544 sales on the books compared with 437 the year before. In Pierce County, there were 49 pending sales of condos, up 6.52 percent from the 46 units a year before. For closed sales, the median sales price of a condominium in Pierce County in December was $164,000, down nearly 25 percent from $218,000 in 2008.
“I see a lot of folks who have the capacity to buy and they’re unsure,” said Mike Flynn of John L. Scott Real Estate in University Place, on Tuesday.
A full recovery in the real estate market will take “employment and confidence,” Riley said.
“We need more move-up buyers,” said Flynn, referring to those who have solid equity in their homes and who decide to buy a more expensive home.
Riley noted a report from late December wherein smartmoney.com, quoting a report by the financial services group Moody’s, said, “The five areas that Moody’s foresees home prices performing best in 2010 are Tacoma; Memphis; Pittsburgh; Charleston, S.C.; and Seattle.
Dick Beeson, owner and broker of Tacoma’s Windermere Commencement Association, said in an MLS release, “The hardest part of the process still remains the uncertainty of the lending market as banks continue to ratchet up the qualifications and criteria for borrowers.”
C.R. Roberts: 253-597-8535
c.r.roberts@thenewstribune.com
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