The sharpest national home price drop ever meant a strong tumble in Puget Sound home prices, according to a new index released today.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for July showed a 8.2 percent drop in home prices from last year, and a 1 percent stumble from the previous month. The 20-city index fell a record 16.3 percent in July from the previous year, the largest drop since the index began in 2000.
"There are signs of a slow down in the rate of decline across metro areas, but no evidence of a bottom," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Standard & Poor's Index Committee.
No prices in any of the cities saw a year-over-year increase, the fourth month in a row of decline. The hardest hit areas still are in the Southwest and Southeast. Las Vegas saw the biggest year-over-year fall, a drop of 29.9 percent with Phoenix close behind with a 29.3 percent drop.
"While some cities did show some marginal improvement over last month's data, there is still very little evidence of any particular region experiencing an absolute turnaround," Blitzer said.
The median home price in Pierce County for August, the most recent available from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, was $250,975, down about $34,000 from last year.

A new study by Coldwell Banker Real Estate rates Tacoma's residential real estate prices 129th in the country among 316 cities.

The study is unique in that it ranks cities not by the median prices of homes, but by the price of a typical 2,200-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath home.

The study shows that geographic location places a huge role in what homes cost.

In Tacoma, according to the Coldwell Banker study, such a home would cost $338,750, but in the nation's most expensive market, the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, Calif., the same home would cost $1.84 million.

The same-sized dwelling in the country's least expensive market, Sioux City, Iowa, the cost would be just $133,459.

Most of the cities at the bottom end of the list are in the Midwest or Texas. That typical home in Houston, for instance, would cost $158,625, and maybe less now that Hurricane Ike has raked over the Texas Gulf coast city.

Not all the inexpensive cities are in the corn fields of the Midwest. The Coldwell Banker "average" home in Colorado Springs on the edge of the Rockies would cost $198,500.

If you're looking to move to the sunnier climate of California, beware. Even with recent steep drops in home prices, eight of the most expensive cities in the country are in the Golden State.

Not only does broad geographic location play a big role in home prices, but so does the city's reputation. The Coldwell Banker house that costs $338,750 in Tacoma would cost $814,483 in Bellevue, just 40 miles distant.

Foreclosure filings in Pierce County for August rose 17 percent from the previous month, a 60 percent jump from last year.

Statistics provider RealtyTrac release foreclosure listings this week, showing a slower pace than previous months. Foreclosure filings nationwide rose 27 percent compared to last August, but the climb was smaller than June and July.

Washington rose five spots to No. 21 for foreclosure filings this month. Nevada, California and Arizona rated the highest, with the three states combined accounting for more than half of the nation's foreclosures.

In Pierce County, 687 received at least one foreclosure notice in August, that is one out of every 450 homes.

All but four Washington counties saw a rise from last year. King County saw a 60 percent climb from last year. Thurston County is up 52 percent.

The tricky thing with these statistics, however, are that they not a solid representation of foreclosures. RealtyTrac follows default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

Median home prices in Pierce County dropped in August even as the number of homes on the market declined.

Figures released Tuesday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service showed a 11.9 percent from the same time a year ago.

The median price for a single-family home or condo was $250,975. It’s the 11th drop in the past year. That price is about $4,000 below the median for July. Last August, the median home price was $285,000.

There were 1,871 new listings in August, about 400 fewer than last year’s 2,291. This year has also seen a large drop in closed sales, with 736 in August compared to 1,120 last year. July saw 796 closed sales. Still, Washington has fared better than other regions, especially California and Florida where prices have declined much further.

Pat Maddock, an agent with Coldwell Banker Bain and a former president of the Pierce County Association of Realtors, said he just got back from a three-week vacation, but even on the road, he still thought about the real estate market.

He checked in on different areas across the West Coast, and is convinced that Western Washington is in great shape. Even though the statistics look rough for Pierce County, it is nothing compared to areas such as Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Low prices, lots of homes on the market and low interest rates continue to show that it is a fantastic time to be a buyer. But because of this trend, buyers are “sitting on their hands,” thinking things could get even better and waiting to buy.

“If you are waiting for the market to bottom out, you’re going to miss it,” Maddock said. “You don’t know it’s at its lowest until it climbs upward.”

The most telling statistic to Dick Beeson, NWMLS director and owner of Windermere Commencement Associates, is that there is growing competition – statistics show a 10 percent drop in the number of houses for sale and a 20 percent drop of new listings.

“There is a declining inventory,” he said. “The selection is a little less, and competition is a little bit stronger, because only the strong survive.”

But sellers still have issues to face. Low prices and low rate of closed sales mean it is easy to make the wrong decisions, Maddock said.

“It’s very easy to overprice your home, it’s very tempting to overprice your home, and it’s suicidal to overprice your home,” he said.

Here is some more bad news for the housing industry.

More people in Washington are behind on their mortgage payments this quarter, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The delinquency rate for residential mortgage loans in Washington rose to 3.38 percent at the end of the second quarter, up from 2.98 percent at the end of the first quarter. The amount of loans being foreclosed in the state also rose to 1.04 percent from 0.89 percent.

Washington is still doing much better than most of the country, ranked for the quarter at No. 45 in delinquencies and No. 44 in foreclosures started. The state also has 14 percent nonprime borrowers, compared to 19 percent nationwide, according to the D.C.-based group.

California and Florida continue to be the hardest hit. The two states accounted for 39 percent of all foreclosures in the second quarter.

The national delinquency rate for the second quarter was 6.41 percent, a jump last year's 5.12 percent. This quarter's rate is the highest since the agency began recording statistics in 1979.

"The national foreclosure numbers continue to be driven by the hardest hit states continuing to get much worse," said Jay Brinkman, MBA's chief economist and senior vice president for research and economics, in a news release.

I am putting together a story about what the market is like right now, especially for first-time buyers. I tagged along with a first-time buyer as she looked at possible homes, and I spoke with agents and lenders about what buyers need to know about today's market.

How do you feel the market is for a first time buyer? Is it a good time to go from renting to owning?

What was your experience like when you bought your first home?

Pick up Sunday's paper for the story.