Market Snapshot

It’s a great November for real estate sales. I am normally planning for next year by now, but instead we are selling homes. Our friend, Marguerite, theorizes that the explanation behind this late activity is the wave of State Farm Insurance employees headed for new offices in the old Russell building downtown, which I discussed a few months back. “If they aren’t buying Hume Group listings,” I am warned, “they will buy someone else’s.” The News Tribune recently reported that “hundreds” would be in place by December.

So what does the inventory picture look like in the north end today? These numbers were unexpected. I figured we would see the usual scarcity in the entry level price points. There is not the shortage we had in February when the ratio under $200,000 was 232% (few available listings but LOTS of pending sales) As we move up in price ranges you see things shift from favoring sellers to this softer upper-middle-price range favoring buyers, especially $450,000 to $550,000, where there are 16 north Tacoma sellers now trolling for buyers and zero pending sales. Climbing higher still we see an unmistakable seller’s market. Between $600,000 and $650,000 there are currently 3 homes to chose from and 7 pending sales, or 233% pending!

Overall, the north end sale