by Kathleen Cooper, The News Tribune, Sept. 5, 2012
Sale prices of homes and condos in Pierce County had the highest year-over year increase of 2012 last month, data released Wednesday show.
The combined median sale price of homes and condos in August was $199,950, a 7 percent increase over the price at the same time a year ago, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. At the median sale price, half the homes sold for more than that amount, and half sold for less.
The price increase also was only the second time this year Pierce County has seen a monthly bump in the combined figures.
Other good signs: Closed sales in Pierce County increased by 3 percent compared with August 2011, while about 28 percent fewer homes were for sale.
“Inventory levels are incredibly low, but our hope is that many homeowners who were underwater can now afford to sell because of the continued appreciation of home prices,” OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate Company, said in a news release.
In Thurston County, median combined sale prices fell about 3 percent to $218,000. Closed sales increased by almost 28 percent, and inventory decreased by almost that much.
The Northwest Multiple Listing Service represents 21 counties in Western and Central Washington. An increase in closed sales was the story across the NWMLS area.
Reflecting several months of strong pending sales, closed sales across the 21-county area reached the highest volume so far in 2012. Brokers had 6,612 closings last month, according to the release, continuing a streak of four months of 6,000-plus completed transactions.
“In housing markets, slow and steady recoveries are good,” MLS director Frank Wilson, the branch managing broker at John L. Scott’s Poulsbo office, said in the release. “A market that runs too high or too fast leads to a quick decline in short order,” he said, adding he expects good momentum to continue into the fall.
