Year-over-year median home prices in Pierce County declined for the third consecutive month in November as sales remained slow.

Countywide, the median price dropped 4.4 percent to $262,950, according to figures released Thursday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Sales of homes, including houses and condominiums, decreased by 31 percent for the same month in 2006.

Such declines come as home sales enter the traditionally slower holiday period in a market agents say is adjusting to tightened lending guidelines and hesitant buyers. Prices in other markets around the nation have seen steeper price declines starting several months, and in some cases, years ago.

Year-to-date prices, however, remain up through November, buoyed by a start to the year that was stronger than recent months. Pierce County’s median price is up nearly 3 percent for the first 11 months of the year compared with the same period in 2006.

Consecutive local price drops can be attributed to homes listed competitively so that they attract buyers and sell, said Coldwell Banker agent Margo Hass Klein.

Dipping prices aren’t a concern, she said, because they primarily hurt older homeowners who are selling for the last time or those who borrowed against their equity and owe more than they can sell for, she said.

Most sellers are also buyers and so will transfer their equity to a new home, she said.

“They’re not paying as much, but they’re not receiving as much,” she said.

For months, agents have been pushing the message that now is the time to buy.

Not so for Ana Sierra-Jonsson.

She moved to Tacoma in September and looked in Puyallup, North Tacoma and Lakewood for a two- to-three bedroom home. After she and her husband, Lynn Jonsson, viewed about 100 properties, they decided instead to rent for one to two years.

“There are such wild price adjustments going on; we thought time was on our side,” Sierra-Jonsson, 51, said. “We want to see where things end up, because we certainly don’t want to end up paying too much for a house.”

Around the region, King and Kitsap counties also saw prices dip, 2.9 percent and 6.2 percent respectively.

Wanda Coats, a broker for Windermere’s Lakewood office, said mortgage interest rates that have recently dropped, combined with a good supply of homes, will motivate post-holidays buyers. There were 7,981 homes for sale in the county in November, 32.8 percent more than the same month last year, according to the listing service.

“People are going to realize it’s time to buy, but I think it’s going to be toward the New Year,” she said.

Michael and Janelle Hanks are feeling the brunt of today’s slower market.

The couple listed a Thea’s Landing penthouse condominium at $379,000 – just under the price of two recently sold units – in May, just before buying a house in Gig Harbor.

“We get lots of showings but no offers,” said Michael Hanks, 30.

So, they are carrying two mortgage payments while they debate listing strategy on the one-bedroom condo. The couple has offered to pay homeowner’s dues for a year as a buyer’s incentive and lowered the price over the summer to $365,000.

“If we got offers that were really low, it would give us a clue that it was overpriced. I think we’re priced OK. I think it’s just a bad time in the market to put something on the market,” he said.

Some parts of Pierce County are faring better than others:

 • Six of the county’s 17 areas tracked by the MLS saw prices increase in November compared with the same month in 2006, including the areas of DuPont (10 percent), Central Tacoma (9.3 percent), and Gig Harbor (0.8 percent).

 • Sales declined year-to-date in most areas. They were even for the month in the Roy-McKenna area and University Place.

 • In the Fife-Milton area, home sales fell in November by more than half, from 85 to 41 units.

Devona Wells: 253-597-8652

devona.wells@thenewstribune.com