Tacoma real estate has been reeling ever since the beginning of the large scale economic recession. Although the collapse of the sub prime mortgage crisis devastated the entire nation, some parts of the country were hid harder than others. One of the cities that was rather hard hit by the recession was Tacoma, where almost all vital signs of health in the real estate market dropped dramatically in the second half of 2008. There is, however, the possibility that the Tacoma real estate market has bottomed out, leaving nowhere for the market to go but up in the next several months. It is difficult, however, to determine what signs are indicative of an impending recovery and which are simply the product of artificial inflation on the part of the banks.
According to an article published in the News-Tribune on July 19, 2009, property values in Pierce County, which includes the Tacoma real estate market, dropped substantially in June of 2009 as opposed to June of 2008. The piece, written by Joseph Turner, noted that nine out of ten homeowners in the county experienced a decrease in property values, revealing weakness of the real estate market. In fact, the Tacoma Daily Index reported on July 20, 2009 that the city of Tacoma is so concerned about the rising rates of foreclosures that there is now a special workshop designed to preclude foreclosures in the Tacoma real estate market.
On the bright side, it appears that Tacoma real estate may have bottomed out, opening the way for a potential recovery in the Pacific Northwest. A July 7, 2009 article in the The News-Tribune reported that “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 figures released Monday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.” The President of the Tacoma-Pierce County Association of Realtors stated that “It's the people that have been tire-kicking for a while - maybe they've been waiting for their homes to sell and their homes are finally selling.”