Home Sales for August
Gig Harbor’s local real estate market continued along its current trends–unpredictable. Numbers are up from last month, down from August of ‘07. Bottom line still seems to be that we are in a solid buyers’ market (absorption rate is about 20.6 months in Gig Harbor). For potential home buyers who have some money with which to invest, there are some great opportunities in real estate right now. With rental prices rising, many smart investors are using this market to increase their real estate portfolio and take advantage of the opportunities that are being presented. Sellers who are being open and real about the market continue to price their homes well (which usually means well below what they’d like!) and they are still selling quickly.
The following chart shows a few comparisons for single-family home sales in Gig Harbor. For an interactive map, showing all of the home and condo sales in Gig Harbor for this past month, click here (Click here for previous months’ maps). If you’d like specific information on home sales or condo sales in your area, please give me a call.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hi Matt. I really like your blog. As someone who is interested in Gig Harbor and also would like to relocate there in a year or so I am curious your opinion about the amount of days property are listed and the few homes that are selling. It seems only a few of the many listings over time are doing aggressive price drops. Most houses are not reducing their prices. Is this due to sellers not feeling pressure to sell? It seems with the current severe credit crunch and the median house price declining significantly in other areas of WA state that Gig Harbor sellers are not dealing with reality of price declines.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Thanks Curt–
That’s a pretty good observation. Gig Harbor’s volume of home sales has dipped about 55% in the past year, but prices have only dipped about 6%. It doesn’t match up.
From my own experiences and the conversations I’ve had with other agents in my office, it seems that the motivation to sell is lower here than most places. Most folks don’t seem to need to sell. I don’t know if that’s due to the longevity that they’ve been here, their economic standing, or what, but it’s not a pressing need.
I’ve gone from 6 down to 3 listings in the past month, not because they’re selling, but because the sellers had a price they were willing to walk away at, couldn’t get that price, so they just decided to stay.
Many other parts of the nation and state seem to have a lot of folks who absolutely need to sell, even if they take a loss.
What I am seeing more of is huge concessions on the sales. Homes used to sell for about 98% of asking price, and many are now selling for closer to 85% of asking price. They’ll stay listed at a higher price, stubbornly ignoring the market, but when they see an offer, even if it’s surprisingly low, they’ll take it!