Market Update August 25, 2021

NATIONAL TRENDS vs GIG HARBOR

While we wait for August’s real estate stats to roll in, let’s take a look at how our small part of the country is fairing compared to current nationwide trends

Existing home sales
Nationwide we’ve seen existing-home sales rising 2% (seasonally adjusted) from June to July, with no sales declines showing in any regions.
There’s been a negligible decrease of existing homes sales in Gig Harbor between June and July. Sales are down 0.7%. However, this number by itself doesn’t quite give us the full picture

Unsold homes
Nationwide inventory of unsold homes has increased 7.3% to 1.32 million from June to July. This means the absorption rate is slowing down – a key indicator of a cooling market.
Locally, however, we’ve seen the opposite. Inventory decreased by 13% between June and July. A factor behind this is strong demand coupled with fewer houses being listed for sale month over month.

Median Sales Price
One thing that does tie the nationwide trend with our local market is the Median Sales Price increase. The US has seen an increase in prices of 17.8% y-o-y.
In Gig Harbor we’ve experienced a median sales price increase of 23.8% y-o-y.

The above nationwide trends could be first signs of a cooling market. Whether this is an exaggerated seasonal pattern, or indicative of things yet to come, August numbers will undoubtedly only muddy the waters. First-hand experience of this month’s market activity promises to give us continued low levels of inventory and a slight increase in prices. Local trends will most likely start to diverge from national trends more drastically in the coming months.