This morning I ran some numbers in the Northwest MLS to get a better feel for what is happening in the Tacoma real estate market right now. To be honest, I was a little surprised by what I saw. So I thought I would share!
First, I assumed we would see that the volume of transactions is down. The market is SO tight and it feels like there are no homes for sale. I was wrong! After running numbers on sold homes in Seattle, Tacoma, & Pierce County for the first Quarter of 2021 I discovered that there are actually more homes that have sold this year. Tacoma had 18% more homes sell than last year. Pierce County had 10% more homes sell over last year. Seattle had more 31% more homes sell than last year. It feels like less but it’s more.
How Many Homes sold in the First Quarter of 2021 over the First Quarter of 2020?
These numbers are single family homes sold in January-March. They don’t include land, multifamily, or condos.
In Tacoma closed homes sales increased 18% year over year:
2020 1st Quarter Closed Residential= 725 homes sold
2021 1st Quarter Closed Residential = 857 homes sold
In Pierce County closed home sales increased 10% from 2020 to 2021:
2020 1st Quarter Closed Residential= 2,657 homes sold
2021 1st Quarter Closed Residential= 2,922 homes sold
How is Covid-19 impacting the Tacoma real estate market in 2021?
When I shared these numbers on Twitter, my friend Erik asked if Covid had impacted that at all, since we locked down in March of 2020. The truth is it didn’t seem to too much. Real estate was deemed essential during Covid-19 in Washington State and functionally never actually stopped last March. If you compare March to March there’s a difference, but it’s not huge:
Tacoma Closings are up 23%
March 2021= 331 closed
March 2020= 268 closed
Pierce County closings are up 15%
March 2021= 1182 closed
March 2020= 1026 closed
The biggest way that Covid-19 is impacting the Tacoma real estate market is how much time, money, and motivation buyers have to enter the real estate market. There is a HUGE volume of buyers wanting to enter the market and just not enough homes for sale.
How is the inventory of available homes right now?
Inventory in Tacoma and Pierce County is at record lows in 2021. I’ve never known us to have so few homes on the market. As an example, this is the past 3 Februarys below. The percentage of homes left over at the end of the month after all the new inventory came on that month in Pierce County:
Feb 2019 – 17.8%
Feb 2020 – 11.2%
Feb 2021 – 4%
For more information about pricing and neighborhoods in Tacoma check out the following resources:
- Clickable neighborhood map of Tacoma
- Tacoma Median Home Prices by Neighborhood
- Tacoma real estate market update 2021
To see more videos like this visit Marguerite’s youtube channel.
Marguerite Martin is a different kind of Tacoma real estate agent. Check out the Tacoma Neighborhood Guide to find answers to questions you have about neighborhoods in Tacoma and Pierce County. When the time is right to start looking, Marguerite can connect you with a local real estate agent who specializes in the neighborhoods you love most. Click here to contact Marguerite.
