Suzanne Britsch, president of Real Vision Research in Bothell, WA, says her recently released report contains information builders often require before pumping millions of dollars into a project.

For instance, the report points out that based on active real estate listings and average market time for sales, Downtown has a three-month supply of available single-family housing and condos.

"The trend has been to not build at all in Downtown Tacoma," Britsch says. "But builders need to know that we determined there definitely is a market for housing in Downtown Tacoma for a lot of different socio-economic levels."

Other facts contained in the report include:

* There are 1,442 Downtown multifamily dwellings now in the permit process. That's an annual average of 288 units over the next five years.

* The total demand for all of Tacoma is 800 to 1,200 new dwelling units per year for the next five years. The report suggests Downtown should aim to capture one-half of that market, or 400 to 600 units per year

After opening a Tacoma branch of the University of Washington, putting in new parks, cleaning up neighborhoods and attracting high-tech and financial businesses, Britsch says city leaders asked for the report in an effort to determine what could be done to create more Downtown residential development.