Gig Harbor home sales continue to be a “good news-bad news” story, unfortunately without enough emphasis on the good. With the overall economy entrenching itself deeper and financing difficult for buyers to navigate the local real estate market likely would not see measurable improvement in the foreseeable future. With the Federal government taking control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the weekend mortgage lending should be increased and at a lower rate for homebuyers, one of the problems now for buyers who want to buy but have not been able to secure financing.
August statistics should be viewed in the perspective that August is traditionally an excellent sales month. In fact, from 2003 through 2007 every August was one of the best three months each year. This year May and June surpassed August and March tied it. This does not bode well for an improving market.
August shows modest gains from July but is down 44% from last year in Gig Harbor and down 40% in Key Peninsula.
AUGUST CLOSED SALES % CHANGE
from Gig Harbor Key Peninsula
July 2008 +18% +5%
Aug 2007 <44%> <40%>
Inventory stands the same as last month in Gig Harbor and down just slightly in Key Peninsula. The current sales numbers and inventory indicate an absorption rate (the number of months it will take to sell current inventory at the August sales rate) of 19 months in Gig Harbor and 14 months in Key Peninsula. This is an improvement over July but, again, August should be a good month for sales. Expect this absorption rate to ratchet up going into winter. A six to seven month supply of homes is where the balance tips between a buyer and seller’s market. Any seller is well advised to price aggressively now because the competition will only increase as more homes are listed and sales numbers decline in the less-than-best months ahead.
INVENTORY OF HOMES ON MARKET
Gig Harbor Key Peninsula
August 2008 19 months 14 months
July 2008 27 months 18 months
Two areas that stood out with strong absorption rates, at least for August, were the Wauna/Minter area with only a seven months supply of homes on the market, and Rosedale with an eight months supply. Wauna/Minter represents an area fairly close-in but more affordable; its median sales price was $231,000, and it took just 73 days on average to sell the homes.
Time to market homes improved a bit for sales in Gig Harbor and more so for Key Peninsula. It took an average of 120 days in Gig Harbor, slightly less than 129 days in July. In Key Peninsula it took 99 days to sell, on average, rather than 127 days in July.
August median sales prices did not change at all from last month–$398,000 in Gig Harbor and $267,000 in Key Peninsula. Median price is the midway point in number of sales. At this time of the year it makes sense to look at median prices year-to-date, compared against 2007. This will show a modest decline, much less than the rest of the country, of only 6% from 2007 in Gig Harbor and actually a 2% improvement in Key Peninsula. Sales prices increase when listing prices are seen as more “realistic” and demand shrinks inventory.
YEAR-TO-DATE MEDIAN SALES PRICE
Gig Harbor Key Peninsula
2008 $430,000 $250,000
2007 $457,000 $245,000
Carole Holmaas is an Associate Broker at Windermere Real Estate, licensed since 1967. She may be reached at Carole@ISellGigHarbor.com or 253.549.6611
.