Pierce County December Market Update

The median price returned to September's numbers following the high in July. The median price index dropped to $275k from last month's figure of $280k. Despite this temporary correction, home values have decreased slightly year-over-year. We ended November 2006 at $281k. A major price plunge doesn't seem very likely.

The average cumulative days on market - total time a home is for sale from listing to closing - dropped a bit to 97 days, down from 109 days the previous month. Buyers are continuing to work sellers asking price down in their offer, as the average sale price to original list price fell to 94%, down from 95% in October.

Listing inventory continued to fall from the all time high reached in August. The MLS reported 6973 homes for sale at the end of November. Lower inventories will ultimately benefit sellers by balancing supply and demand. In the meantime, sellers must remain committed to competitive pricing. The number of homes sold also dropped to 583 for the month of November.

* Homes sold - single-family homes, both resale and new construction, but not condos or vacant land.
** Median home price - the middle price in a given sequence of prices, taken as the average of the two middle prices when the sequence has an even number of homes.
*** SP/Orig LP% - Sale price divided by original list price.

• Puyallup December Market Update