Here’s where home prices landed in Pierce County in March as spring market kicks in
Pierce County home prices continued to decline in March, according to the latest report from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Pierce County’s median closed home sale price was $526,000, down 5.57 percent from the same time a year ago. King and Snohomish counties saw bigger percentage drops of more than 9 percent, with median closed price at $840,000 and $724,000, respectively.
Kitsap County was at $517,500, down 3.9 percent from a year ago.
In Pierce County, total active listings were up nearly 64 percent from March 2022, with more than 1,144 new single-family residential and condo listings.
According to NWMLS, brokers added 7,904 new listings during March across the 26 counties in the NWMLS report.
“That total is down nearly 30 percent from a year ago, but up more than 51 percent from February,” the report noted, “when brokers added 5,231 new listings of single family homes and condominiums.”
Despite that, Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston counties all had less than one month of supply available.
Windermere Chief Economist Matthew Gardner noted in the report that “Despite the growing number of available homes for sale, sellers in King County are holding firm, with listing prices increasing by over 5 percent compared to February. In Snohomish County, listing prices were up just shy of 5 percent, and they were flat in Pierce County.”
Pierce County median closed home price was $529,900 in February.
John L. Scott Real Estate, in a separate report, showed that among homes priced at $350,000-$500,000 in Pierce County listed in February, just over 80 percent were pending in the first 30 days. Supply in the price range was listed in “severe shortage.”
Redfin showed median days on market nationwide in February at 52, up 27 year over year.
Dick Beeson, managing broker at RE/MAX Northwest in Tacoma/Gig Harbor, said in the March report that buyers want to buy now because they see modest reductions in prices and rates. Meanwhile, he added, “Sellers want to sell now before prices fall even further and there’s less competition.
“There’s a paradox not seen in prior markets where low inventory generally brings higher prices,” he added.
Gardner predicted that “We will likely return to positive year-over-year price growth by the end of the year.”
