The residential real estate market in Pierce County is perking up for the summer as more people move from simply looking at homes to actually making offers on them.

Pending sales of homes and condominiums in the county were up 27 percent in June to 1,341 from the same month last year, according to the figures released by the Northwest Multiple Listings Service today.

The median price ticked up slightly over the month to $230,000, though it remains 11 percent below where it was a year ago.

Local real estate agents said low interest rates, first-time home buyer credits and the prospect of good deals are spurring some hesitant shoppers into taking action.

“It’s the people that have been tire kicking for awhile – maybe they’ve been waiting for their homes to sell and their homes are finally selling,” said Cheryl O’Brien, president of the Tacoma Pierce County Association of Realtors.

O’Brien, a Realtor with John L. Scott in Gig Harbor, said her office currently has more sales than listings, including the sale of two properties that were over $1 million and six properties over $500,000.

“Everything is creeping up,” O’Brien said. “It’s been awhile since we’ve seen anything over $1 million sell.”

Still much of the recent sales activity remains in the lower price range. O’Brien said that it’s a “seller’s market” for homes priced at $300,000 or less and other agents reported some instances of multiple offers on such homes.

And while there’s been an uptick in pending sales, the number of closed sales has yet to catch up to where the county was last year at this time. Closed sales were down 7 percent to 798 in June when compared to June 2008, according to the MLS report.

Dick Beeson, a NWMLS director and a broker with Windermere Commencement Associates in Tacoma, attributes the gap between pending and closed sales to the number of offers on short sale homes that don’t come through.

A short sale happens when a home owner sells her home for less money than she owes the bank. Such transactions require bank approval before the sale can be completed.

But Beeson said the increase in number of people making offers on homes is a good sign.

“It means they want to buy something,” he said. “They’ve actually stepped up and put it into writing – they are getting into the game.”

Kelly Kearsley: 253-597-8573
Kelly.kearsley@thenewstribune.com

Alaska Airlines' June passenger traffic fell by 2.6 percent, the airline says.

But Alaska's planes operated with more seats full, 80.7 percent versus 79.5 percent, because it has cut its capacity by 4.1 percent.

Meanwhile at Alaska's sister airline, Horizon Air, passenger traffic fell by 9.2 percent in June, but capacity fell at a steeper rate, 10.8 percent. Horizon's planes were 79.4 percent full in June this year compared with 78 percent in June 2008.

British Airways this week announced it had deferred delivery of its first six superjumbo Airbus A380 jets.

The delivery dates have been pushed back an average of five months, the airline said. The first of the planes is due for delivery in 2012.

Delivery of six additional A380s was delayed by an average of two years, the airline said.

Boeing has seen orders for its mid-sized 787 Dreamliner evaporate as the aircraft encounters production and design problems.

The A380, with more than 500 seats, is proving to be too big for some routes, and analysts are wondering whether airlines will carry through with all of their orders at a time when business and tourist travel is falling.

Some 1,200 union workers in Macy's stores from SeaTac to Bellingham have approved a new contract by a 75 percent margin.

The new agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 included better wages, a signing bonus and new seniority, scheduling and union security language, the union said.

"This was a tough bargain, and the members showed each and management that while we can never get everything we want, if we speak with one voice, we can get what we need: respect as workers and better wages and benefits," said David Fleishman, the union's negotiation director.

The previous contract had expired in April.

Tacoma's Macy's is not covered by the new contract. A separate local represents workers at the Tacoma Mall stores.