Get Real Tacoma

I was having a delicious breakfast with some friends at Puget Sound Pizza this weekend, and this blog came up in conversation.  

“I never read the numbers and stuff” my friend said. 

“But the numbers are the most interesting part!” I exclaimed in reply. 

So, in an effort to make my boring numbers more entertaining for you, I am learning how to make graphs and charts online.  Here is my very first one:

I know it’s a little dry, but bear with me.  I’ll get better at it! Hopefully this will make some of the dryer data a little more digestable in the future.

 As of today, there are 1,987 houses and condos for sale in Tacoma.  The median size is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms 1,561 square feet.  The median list price is $239,950.

There are currently 309 Pending Sales in Tacoma, giving us a city wide sales ratio of 15%.  A balanced market is around 50%.  Less than 50% is a buyers market.  

The median listed price (not what they sold for mind you, we won’t know that until they close) of houses that are pending is $209,950. That means houses that are getting offers are 30k lower than the median price.  The buyers that are out there are looking for deals.

When we look at what sold in the past 9 days, it’s easy to see why they’re trying to wheel and deal.  This week 12 houses and 1 condo sold in Tacoma.  Of the 12 houses, 8 of them were BANK OWNED FORECLOSURES.  Another 2 were new construction.  Banks and builders generally have a greater ability than your average seller to wheel and deal.  The median size on sold houses was 3 bedrooms, 1.5 Baths 1,348 square feet.  The median price? $169,900.  That means that for the first week of 2009, the median sold price is 70k lower than the median listed price, and 40k lower than the median pending price.

I’m running out of clever preambles, so let’s kick off part 3 of Tacoma Sales Stastics 2008.  For this round, we’re looking at 98403, for the purposes of this post, we’re going to call this Stadium, even though it covers North Slope and some Old Town, because calling it StadiOldSlope is a compromise no one is interested in making. 

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For the second installment in the neighborhood sales statistics, we will visit 98405.  Loosely translated here as “Hilltop” this includes areas that many consider downtown, as well as the McCarver Neighborhood.   I can say hands down that this is the neighborhood that the majority of my first time home buyers are asking about these days. It’s affordable, convenient, and cool.

Downtown gets all the attention, but 98405 has been a real workout this year, churning out lots of affordable sales.

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Sold Signs

So I promised earlier this week that I would break down the 2008 Sales Statistics for Homes & Condos in the City of Tacoma neighborhood by neighborhood.

I know folks around here are pretty sensitive about where neighborhood lines are drawn.  I swear I almost heard someone go to blows over whether the were “Stadium” or “North Slope”.  God forbid you start the discussion of “North End” or “Near North End”.  I’ve decided that for the purposes of these statistics we are going to go by zip code, thereby sparing me the need to defend my definition of neighborhoods.  I just hate conflict…

So today we will start with Downtown Tacoma, in the form of zip code 98402.

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Everyone loves a good year end wrap-up. Me included! Here are the sales stats for The City of Tacoma for 2008:

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It’s been a couple weeks since we reviewed the Downtown Tacoma Condos that have sold, so here you are.  There were 9 condos that closed, 6 of those I already wrote about earlier this week located at The Esplanade.  

Selling like (price reduced) hot cakes.

CitySteps continued the great townhouse blowout with 2 sold this week, both for $219,990.  They were units #105 & 106 2 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, with 1113 square feet.  One was originally listed at $259,990.

The final condo was over with Survon at Marcato, unit #319.  A 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1040 square foot that was originally listed at $369,000.  It sold for $309,000.   For information on Marcato check out another of last weeks posts here.

I believe it is worth mentioning that right now there are 225 condos listed for sale in 98402, 98405, & 98403.  There are 24 that are pending sale.  That gives us an 11% sales ratio- which is DEFINETLY a buyers market.  If you want a good explanation of a sales ratio, I recommend reading Tacoma Realtor Tom Hume’s post on the topic.  He explains it well.  Basically, less that 50% is a buyers market, more than 50% is a sellers market.

It is also worth mentioning that in the past 2 weeks int the same downtown area, 1 condo listing was cancelled, 1 was temporarily taken off the market, and 4 expired.  That’s one way to get the inventory down.

Between the Christmastime Parties and all the Shopping, 27 people found time to close on houses and condos this week in Tacoma!  Here is the breakdown:

• 22 Houses sold. 5 Condos sold.
• All 5 condos were located at The Esplanade.
• The average days on market for the houses that sold were 130 days.  Those sellers accepted offers at an average of 97% of the list price.
• The average price per square foot of sold homes across the whole city was $130/square foot.

 Update:  While writing this a 6th unit was marked sold at Esplanade.  So that is 6 total.

The problem here is that there are currently 2,199 houses and condos actively for sale in Tacoma.  That number is probably a little low, as I know many of the new construction houses and condos are not on the MLS as builders will just put up a few to represent the whole building/neighborhood.   There are 315 pending sales, which puts us at a 14% sales ratio for the city at large. 

 Stay tuned for a post comparing the Pricing and Days on Market of Sold Homes & Condos with those of the Currently Listed Homes & Condos!