Good News Two Months in a Row?

The latest NWMLS Report is unquestionably positive. It shows inventory for the entire service area at its lowest level since May and pending sales up 20% from a year ago.

Locally, we are seeing the same encouraging trends. In Pierce county inventory is 11% below where it was at this time last year and we have 9.7% more pending sales. Our closed sales are also up, by 23%. Now make no mistake–we do have a ways to go. This market still favors buyers and will for some time. Also, prices are down as compared with 2010. The first step is to get supply and demand back in line and that is one aspect of this report that speaks to me–trends toward equilibrium. We are moving in the right direction. The other news here is that this month and last month the reports had a tone that was unquestionably positive. We’ve been getting a steady diet of bad news for four years, so the tone is itself noteworthy.