Hurlbuthomes.com Blog

Well, it looks like Spring has sprung and we're finally seeing some positive signs that we may be at or near the bottom of the market. Pending sales are up, way up . . . and new listings and active listings are down compared to the same time last year. In Pierce County, we're getting close to what the National Association of Realtors (NAR) considers a "Balanced" market.

The NAR looks at months of inventory to determine if we have a buyers market, a sellers market, or a balanced market. The barometer is 6 months worth of inventory. At 6 months worth, we have a balanced market, less than 6 months it's a Sellers market and more than 6 months, it's a buyers market.

Months of inventory is calculated by dividing the number of homes that sell in any given month into the total number of homes available. For example, in March of 2009, in Pierce County, 975 homes went pending and there were a total of 5,588 homes that were active, so based on pending sales, there is currently 5.73 months of inventory. Compare this to last year where at times we had upwards of 14 months of inventory, you can see we're in a much better position.

So, wihtout further delay, here are your March 2009 MLS statistics for Pierce, King and Thurston counties:

	Total Active Residential Listings		Average Time On Market		Average Sales Price
County	03/09	03/08	03/09	03/08	03/09	03/08
Pierce	5,588	7,014	95	95	$252,295	$298,222
King	9,588	10,592	84	80	$421,315	$539,732
Thurston	1,551	1,980	106	96	$262,636	$287,825
	Total Closed		Total Closed YTD
County	03/09	03/08	03/09	03/08	% Change 12 Mo
Pierce	577	730	11,525	8,717	-16%
King	2,358	1,697	21,548	19,266	-22%
Thurston	415	330	3,679	3,142	-9%
Data Courtesy of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS)