Wishing you a very Merry Christmas with good health and all the best for a Happy New Year!

November 2011 Gig Harbor Home Sales

Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula Combined Market   

This reflects the combined markets of Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula.  Sales activities for these individual areas are reviewed below.

The Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula real estate market continues to show signs of increased stability and improvement.  November posted a decrease of nearly 27% in the total number of closed sales as compared with the prior month, which can be seen as typical seasonal fluctuation and should be expected.  However, November also posted a 36% increase over closed sales of November of 2011. This marks eight of the last nine months where sales have increased over the same month of the prior year.    November also showed an increase in the median and average prices and decreasing Days on Market.  These indicators support the continuing shift quickly heading towards a Sellers’ market.

Key Points in Gig Harbor and KP Market:

-        Inventory of Active listings down 13.52% to 518

-        Pending Sales up 3.45% to 210

-        12 month absorption rate at 5.6 months (heading towards a Sellers’ Market)

-        Average Days on Market (DOM) down 10.43% to 103 days

-        Average DOM for current Active listings up 3% to 167 days

-        Sold Median Price increased 13.16% to $322,500 and 11.53% from 11/2011

-        Sold Average Price increased 6.67% to $390,465 and 11.53% from 11/2011

-        With 57% of sales, the most active price range fell between $200,000 and $450,000

Looking forward to December activity of the 210 total Pending sales 121 are Owner Occupied, 18 are Bank Owned and 71 as Short Sales.  Factoring the ‘Pending to Sold’ conversion rates, I anticipate Decembers total sales will increase to mid to upper 70’s.  I also expect the Median price to hold but anticipate a decrease in the average sales price.

Gig Harbor Market

Gig Harbor posted nearly a 23% decrease in closed sales which, as mentioned above, is expected for seasonal fluctuations.  Even with this seemingly drastic drop from the prior month, this marks a gain of over 54% from November 2011.  In line with the Combined Market reported above, Gig Harbor also posted steady increases eight of the last nine months in comparison to the prior year. 

Key Points in Gig Harbor Market:

-        Inventory of Active listings down 16.44% to 366

-        Pending Sales up 2.58% to 159

-        12 month absorption rate at 5.3 months (heading towards a Sellers’ Market)

-        Average Days on Market (DOM) down 15.57% to 103 days

-        Average DOM for current Active listings up 4.22% to 173 days

-        Sold Median Price increased 7.09% to $347,500 from 10/12 and 0.72% from 11/2011

-        Sold Average Price increased 7.54% to $444,950 from 10/12 and 12.53% from 11/2011

-        With 61% of sales, the most active price range fell between $200,000 and $450,000

-        27% of homes sold were priced over $450,000

Looking forward to December activity of the 159 Pending sales 100 are Owner Occupied, 9 are Bank Owned and 50 as Short Sales.  Factoring the ‘Pending to Sold’ conversion rates, I anticipate Decembers total sales will increase approaching 60.  Similar to the combined market above, I expect the Median price to hold with a modest increase, but anticipate a decrease in the average sales price. 

Key Peninsula Market

November was not a kind month for Real Estate on the KP.  Closed sales and prices dropped in all categories from the prior month and year.  When comparing to the prior year the KP has seen a decline in sales for five of the last nine months.  However, the last three months this decline was by only one sale.  The KP market had shown positive growth earlier in the year but has stagnated the last few months.  Also, it should be noted that with sales totals only in the mid-teens a single sale can have great effect on the months stats, so this is not a bleak a picture.

Key Points in the KP Market:

-        Inventory of Active listings down 4-97% to 153

-        Pending Sales up 6.25% to 51

-        12 month absorption rate at 6.7 months (heading towards a Stable Market)

-        Average Days on Market (DOM) up 5.15% to 102 days

-        Average DOM for current Active listings held to 153 days

-        Sold Median Price decreased 19.12% to $167,000 from 10/12 and 26.67% from 11/2011

-        Sold Average Price decreased 18.34% to $180,307 from 10/12 and 26.22% from 11/2011

-        With 64% of sales, the most active price range fell between $140,000 and $300,000

Looking forward to next month’s sales of the 51 Pending sales 21 are owner occupied, 9 are Bank Owned and 21 Short Sale.  Factoring the ‘Pending to Sold’ conversion rates, I anticipate Decembers total sales will post a modest increase, up to 20.  With an increase in the quantity of closed sales, I anticipate an increase in both the Median and Average prices.

And in closing . . .

Our overall market continues to grow, shifting to a Sellers’ Market.   The trend for increased sales and declining inventory indicates that this shift will happen sooner than later.  The overall numbers may have been mixed in November, but the trend still shows great improvement. 

There are some amazing values in the market right now and interest rates remain unbelievably low.  If you know anyone who is considering how they can take advantage of this market please let me know or have them get in contact with me.  I appreciate your consideration and note that I have a wonderful national referral network for those out of state friends and clients.