Moving a little further north, it appears that Pierce county is noticing the slowdown as well, though not to quite the same degree as Thurston.
More homes are hitting the market and staying there, as housing prices continue to climb, according to new numbers released today by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
…
The biggest change was in the number of homes on the market. While inventory shrunk 5 percent in King County, the total number of homes in Pierce County increased by 23 percent when compared with the same number in March of 2005.The inventory in Thurston County jumped by 77 percent, according to the report.
"People are taking a bit longer to decide, and even with the increase in inventory, there hasn’t been a reduction on selling prices," said NWMLS director Dick Beeson, broker at Windermere Real Estate/Paragon in Tacoma. Beeson called the traffic at local houses "pretty decent."
Looking at the NWMLS numbers (pdf), what I find interesting is that the total number of listings is up 6.79%, while pending sales are down 8.94%. I’m no economist, but I would think that type of situation would put downward pressure on prices. 2006 should indeed be an interesting year.
(Barbara Clements, Tacoma News-Tribune, 04.06.2006)