Sunday, January 10, 2010

Tacoma, Washington: #1 ranked real estate market in the nation!


...according to Moody's forecast. Below are excerpts taken  directly from http://www.smartmoney.com/ regarding a recent report by Moody's siting Tacoma and Seattle as #1 and 5 top market in the nation (respectively). Moody's is a well respected analytics group providing research findings derived from a wide variety of indicators (see list of criteria below).
Part of this story ran under title "Pending home sales up 30 percent in Pierce County last month" in the http://www.thenewstribune.com/  . I felt the headline should have been "Tacoma: #1 Real Estate Market in Nation".
Obviously, some very encouraging indicators here and elsewhere...though many people reamain cautiosly optimistic for good reason

The five areas that Moody’s foresees home prices performing best in 2010 are: Tacoma, Wash., (an increase of 2.44%); Memphis, Tenn., (up 0.99%); Pittsburgh (up 0.89%); Charleston, S.C. (up 0.18%); and Seattle (decline of 0.50%). (These five markets are culled from data on Moody’s Economy.com and based on the largest 100 metro areas.)

These pockets of the country share a few important characteristics. One is that they are starting with a limited supply of housing stock. Another is that throughout most of the decade, prices basically stayed in synch with household income, says Cochrane.

The economies of Tacoma and Seattle – which are neighboring cities – were “much stronger for much longer than much of the rest of the country,” says Cochrane. Software giant Microsoft (MSFT: 30.66, +0.21, +0.68%), based in Redmond, Wash., a Seattle suburb, was one reason the area remained stable. Another was Boeing, which builds its commercial airplanes in Seattle.

Going forward, Seattle’s position as a key hub of trans-Pacific trade should be a plus for the economy. Orders are increasing for commercial aircraft and it should see some rising demand for tech products, Cochrane says. The outlook for 2010 for the two Washington cities “is for fairly stable, moderate economic growth,” he says.

So, what criteria does Moody's use? Here is a list of indicators/data/ key indexes

Metropolitan area housing market risk rating based on the Moody's Economy.com proprietary indicators update quarterly.



  • Assessment of metropolitan area supply and demand conditions.


  • Indicators of excess supply (number of months of excess supply).


  • Exclusive Metropolitan area house price leading indicators based on Fiserv's Case-Shiller® Home Price Indexes.


  • Explicit labeling of metropolitan areas as "overpriced," "underpriced" or "balanced."


  • Profiles on selected metropolitan area housing markets.


  • Key housing data updated quarterly:




  • House price appreciation


  • Household formation


  • Homeownership rates


  • Housing affordability


  • Inventories of homes for sale


  • Inventories-to-sales ratio


  • Speculative building index (starts of for sale but unsold single-family homes as a percent of total for sale starts)


  • Median months on the market


  • Builders' cost index


  • Mortgage originations (purchases and refinances)


  • ARM share of mortgage originations


  • Cash-out refinancing activity


  • Mortgage loan-to-value ratio


  • Federal Reserve survey of banks' lending practices


  • Mortgage delinquencies rates




Read more: 5 Markets Expected to Fare Best in 2010 at SmartMoney.com http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/real-estate/5-Markets-Expected-to-Fare-Best-in-2010/#ixzz0cByet9sh


As always, if you are looking to purchase real estate in the greater Pierce County, Washington area, Tom Tuttle  "from Tacoma, WA" services the following areas: Tacoma real estate, Lakewood real estate, Gig Harbor Real estate, Puyallup real estate and surrounding areas of Pierce County real estate.

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