Median home prices in Pierce County dropped again in November, according to figures released Tuesday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The median price for a single-family home or condo in November was $230,000. That price is about $32,950 below the median for the same time last year - an almost 13 percent drop.

Month-to-month, however, it's a 4.5 percent decline from $241,000 in October.

The median price is the midpoint of all sales. Half of homes went for more and half for less.

Other county data for November from the Northwest MLS:

• Homes listed for sale dropped from 1,505 a year ago to 1,368.

• Closed sales were cut almost in half compared to a year ago, from 784 to 463.

Look for more details on the data in tomorrow's News Tribune.

Judy Mayfield, head of sales at The Esplanade condominium project in Tacoma, called Monday to say that she thought last Friday’s News Tribune story about poor condo sales inaccurately portrayed the situation at The Esplanade.

The story correctly noted that no sales have closed so far at the 162-unit development, but it did not mention that Mayfield has lined up 21 buyers whose sales are, for one reason or another, in a pending status.

“We have had tremendous interest and very positive responses,” Mayfield said. “The story had a tone to it that this has been a big failure here, and that is just not the case.”

Mayfield had a legitimate beef with the caption on a photograph that accompanied the story. The caption said “. . . no buyers have stepped forward for any of the 162 units.”

The way Mayfield sees it, 21 buyers have “stepped forward.” It’s just that, so far, none of them has actually closed a deal. Mayfield says she’s expecting at least one closure this Friday.

According to The Associated Press, the widow of producer Aaron Spelling paid $47 million for a two-story condo in the Century City area of Los Angeles. My favorite feature: A bedroom bigger than most houses. How big? 4,000 square feet, which amounts to almost one-quarter of the entire condo.

The story says that the price paid by Candy Spelling for the 16,500-square-foot property works out to $2,848 a square foot, a record price for a Los Angeles condo unit, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The condo, which is still under construction, isn't the first record-breaking residence for Spelling. Her current abode, a 123-room mansion that she and her husband dubbed "The Manor," is the largest home in Los Angeles County at 56,500 square feet, according to The Associated Press.

There's more: Spelling's new digs will have a living room with two working fireplaces, a dining room for 25 guests, the 4,000-square-foot master bedroom suite and a conservatory with a rose garden, as well as a swimming pool and deck, according to the AP.

Goldberg said Spelling was moving to downscale her living space after her husband's death in 2006.

More than two years after opening The Esplanade to reservations, the nine-story waterfront condo project is on the brink of closing its first sales. And at a time when Pierce County’s real estate brokers and agents struggle to convince ever-hesitant buyers to take the plunge.

Not to mention receding prices countywide and a slowdown in condominium sales.

The Esplanade has 162 units priced $240,000 to $980,000, from one bedrooms measuring 800 square feet to penthouses topping 2,000 square feet and with views of the Sound and Mt. Rainier. Judy Mayfield, the project’s listing agent, said she emphasizes value, price and historically low mortgage rates to prospective buyers.

“If anyone’s going to get off the fence, I think they’ll get off the fence here,” she said.

Sales are happening, she said, but they are sluggish. Mayfield said she went through two buyers before putting together an agreement on the largest penthouse. (No worries if you’re still in the market for a waterfront penthouse: The next largest one at 2,172 square feet is still available for $922,000.)

Two models opened in April at The Esplanade, where Mayfield has 23 purchase-and-sale agreements. She expects the first of those to close in August, when construction should wrap up on the building’s common areas. The sales office also will move then from Thea’s Landing to The Esplanade.

“I’ve been selling real estate for 18 years and I’ve never experienced the feeling of frustration I’ve experienced this year,” Mayfield said. “It’s been a tough market. It is frustrating because you’ve got an awesome product. The pricing is really very reasonable, a great value for your money. You do everything you can and people still sit on the fence and, yes, that’s frustrating.”

For the first six months of the year, sales in the area that includes most of downtown Tacoma’s condos and the Foss Waterway have fallen by 47.2 percent compared to the same period in 2007, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. That compares to a 33.1 percent drop in sales of all homes – houses and condos – countywide.

One market factor hurting sales, she said, is an issue other agents say they, too, are grappling with: Buyers who want to buy but can’t sell the home they have.

The Tall Ships festival, however, brought a welcome boost. Mayfield said 90 prospective buyers asked to return for one-on-one tours of the project after seeing it briefly during the maritime event.

The Esplanade isn’t marketing any specific bonuses or sales incentives, but Mayfield said there’s room for negotiating if buyers are looking for a little extra, such as a storage space, a break on closing costs or getting some homeowner’s dues prepaid. (Monthly homeowner association fees range from $280 to $480.)

“We have people who love the building and they’re going to buy when they start feeling more comfortable with the marketplace,” she said.

I’m working on a story about the $1 million condo club in downtown Tacoma. It is so far a rarefied collection, with only a handful of units for sale. Here’s what they all have in common: Big views, lots of square footage, their location in an emerging market. And the promise of urban living.

Is downtown Tacoma the kind of place where buyers will drop $1 million for a condominium? So far, a developer for 505 Broadway says deposits have been put down on two of the building’s five $1 million-plus units, with sales expected to close in the summer when construction wraps up.

If you had $1 million to spend on a home, is this where you’d put it? Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find: Elevator entrances, massive balconies, two-story windows, private wine rooms and multiple master bedrooms.

I won’t have the full roundup from the Northwest Multiple Service on home prices and sales for 2007 until next week. But I do have some numbers broken down comparing last year to 2006 for the 17 areas in Pierce County tracked by the MLS.

So let’s take a look at how condominium sales fared.

Year-over-year, the median price of a Pierce County condo increased by 2.9 percent to $218,560 and sales were up 4.7 percent. Notable standouts on sales activity included Puyallup (+33.6 percent to 286 units), Parkland (+115 percent to 86 units), Central Tacoma (+44.3 percent to 101 units) and North Tacoma (-32.2 percent to 166 units).

Here’s how prices shook out. (I excluded areas that did not record more than 10 sales for the year.)

Condominium sales activity and prices are all over the place around Pierce County. North Tacoma, for instance, has seen far fewer condos sold this year than last while Puyallup has sold 35.6 percent more through the first 11 months of the year compared to the same period in 2006.

Here’s a look at the median price through November, with the change in price compared to the first 11 months of 2006, in 10 areas within Pierce County that have had at least 50 condos sell through the end of November.

Following yesterday's area-by-area rundown of the median price for home sales, let's look specifically at condos. I decided to go with year-to-date numbers, since the numbers in individual areas are so small on a monthly basis. (Throughout Pierce County, only 91 condos sold in October compared to 753 houses.)

These are median condominium sale prices, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, for the first 10 months of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006.

If you saw Hanna Heights at last year’s urban tour, you might not recognize this year’s Hanna Heights.

The floors and counters of the five-story building were redone based on feedback from those who previously toured the models, said real estate agent Julie Sargent, who's selling the units. Now you’ll find hardwood floors instead of carpet and granite slab counters in place of tile.

Prices range from $259,950 to $675,000.

One of the project’s more unusual features is its reliance on one-bedroom units, of which the building has 24 out of 35. (The fifth floor, however, has six two-bedroom condos and one three-bedroom.)

Sargent said the owner and developer, Prium Companies, wanted to make larger one bedrooms rather than small two bedrooms. The smallest unit is 832 square feet.

“It may be a drawback to have just one-bedroom, one-bath, but for the young urban professional, it’s a perfect-sized unit,” Sargent said.

Sales started in July with three pending, according to Sargent. Construction is about 95 percent complete, she said, with move-ins expected in November.

Here’s another Tacoma condo project I saw over the weekend: The Roberson.

The eight-story building has 47 condos, eight of them live-work. Prices range from $241,000 to $899,000. I expected the ones already with buyers to be among the cheapest of the bunch as often happens downtown, but the priciest live-work condo is gone as is the most expensive non-live-work, non-town home condo at $508,000. So far, sales on 15 of the units have either closed or will by the end of November, said Raelene Rogers, of McCament & Rogers, which is marketing the project.

The live-work units are three stories tall so they have a town home feel, with the work space on the bottom floor and a separate, sidewalk-level entrance.

Units at The Roberson went on sale in early 2007 but until last weekend were out of a sales trailer. Having units that potential buyers can wander through “makes a world of difference,” said J.J. McCament, also of McCament & Rogers.

“Once you’ve got something they can see for themselves, they can judge for themselves,” she said.

The condos, some with decks (the penthouse has four), are built around an internal courtyard.

Projects on the tour weren’t the only ones benefiting from the exposure. Next door at The Vintage Y, the last two – and largest – units were snapped up over the weekend.

“That’s a biggie,” said Rogers, who also marketed The Vintage Y. “What happened with the last two was The Roberson. People could not envision what their view would look like.”

After spending some time this weekend at Tacoma’s Tour of Urban Living, I thought we’d start the week with a look at one of the projects. I’ll follow up with a few more.

First up: Walker Condominiums

Reservations kicked off Friday for the 31-unit conversion and by noon on Sunday there were five. (Reservations require 1 percent down, which is refundable. The first units are expected to be done in February.) Maybe the food and drink had something to do with it – a spread that included lamb, cheeses, red wine, beer, cupcakes and stuffed mushrooms. And I’m no caviar expert, but I think I spotted some sitting atop a cracker on a slice of cucumber.

Condos range in size from 850 to 1,650 square feet and are priced $306,000 to $688,050. Among the amenities: Temperature-controlled wine storage, a gym, a suite to reserve for guests and valet parking. (No, you don’t have to tip the valet, because valets will be paid out of association dues – the answer to a commonly asked question, said sales manager Natalie Nuanez.) And a restaurant on the ground floor, Speakeasy, is scheduled to open late this year or early next. Condo owners can get room service from Speakeasy, which Nuanez described as having a swanky, 1930s feel with Northwest-influenced food.

Remaking a 1927 building came with challenges, including small kitchens and bathrooms, said Gwen Ingels, a managing director of Metropolitan Real Estate Development. So while Metropolitan wanted to retain as much of the original materials and look as possible, the condo spaces had to be redesigned and reframed to accommodate the larger rooms buyers want.

“The hardest thing was retrofitting the building for the new HVAC system. A/C is a big deal now when it wasn’t before,” she said.

Unlike some of the other downtown projects with for-sale units, you can’t yet go upstairs at the Walker. But there is one finished unit on the first floor.

A second Metropolitan project on the block, a new-construction condo building, has been dubbed Walker North, where work is expected to begin this spring. And the company has a project planned across the street for more condos and a grocery store.

Don’t forget about the Tour of Urban Living this weekend – a self-guided tour of downtown Tacoma condos and apartments. You’ll find 13 condominium buildings split primarily between the downtown core near City Hall and a group around South 23rd Street. (Though you’ll also find the Marcato between the two clusters and The Esplanade along the water.) Some have full-size models to stroll through and others have a sales center.

There are also three apartment projects. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Go here for a map of what’s on the tour.

UPDATE
Some of the condo projects on last year's tour won't be reappearing, because they sold enough to not need another round or have hit delays, according to Roxanne Murphy, community relations specialist at the City of Tacoma.

Those with enough units sold:
201 Broadway, 201 Broadway
Bridge Condominiums, 744 Market St.
Classic Urban Townhomes, 2307 and 2309 S. I St.
Dorothy Condominiums, 301 N. Tacoma Ave.
Galleria, 2520 S. Jefferson Ave.
Triangle Townhomes, 408 6th St.
The Vintage Y, 714 Market St.

Those from last year's tour that have since been delayed, Murphy said:
The Ansonia, 219 N. Tacoma Ave.
Broadview Condos
Chelsea Heights, 603 S. J St.
Jay Heights, 613 St. Helens Ave.

And these are new this year:
505 Broadway, 505 Broadway
Lexington Square, 2303 S. G St.
Metro City Homes, 2131 S. Yakima Ave.
Walker Condominiums, 405 6th Ave.