Listings are up, interest rates may come down
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years AGO
Active listings are up statewide, but high interest rates are preventing the market from moving as smoothly as buyers and sellers would both like.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Months of inventory increased between July 2023 and July 2024, but most drastically in Adams County. A healthy market has between four and six months of inventory.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 16, 2024 1:00 AM
COLUMBIA BASIN — More homes are on the market this month than a year ago, according to data recently released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 26 of Washington’s 39 counties.
Active listings increased 37.7% in July 2024 compared to July 2023, according to the NMLS. The increase in Grant County was less of a swing; there were 346 active listings in Grant County in July 2024, a 25.8% increase from July 2023. Adams County had 46 active listings in 2024 versus 35 in 2023. The biggest jump in active listings was in Douglas County, where listings rose 80.8% between the Julys.
New listings were also up. Adams County went from 12 new listings in July 2023 to 15 in 2024, and Grant County showed a 34% increase, from 126 to 169. Statewide, the increase in new listings was up 13.1%.
The number of sales that closed was up as well, but not by the same margins. Across Washington, sold homes increased by 5.9%, while in Grant County the figure was 12.5%, from 80 sales to 90. That’s a much larger change than from June 2023 to June 2024, which saw an increase of 4% in Grant County and a decrease of 3.1% statewide. In both cases, June 2023-June 2024 and July 2023-July 2024, Adams County dropped significantly, by more than 50% in June and 73% in July.
One measure real estate experts use to determine the health of the market is months of inventory, which means the amount of time it would take to sell all the homes on the market at a given time. A balanced market is considered 4-6 months of inventory, according to the NMLS. Grant County had 3.8 months of inventory in July, compared to 2.3 statewide. Again, Adams County was the outlier, with 11.5 months of inventory. In July of 2023, all three figures were at least in the same ballpark: 2.3 months for Adams County, 3.4 for Grant County and 1.8 statewide.
A factor in the sluggish market may be continued high interest rates, according to the NMLS. Thirty-year mortgage interest rates were 6.73% on Aug. 1, the lowest rate since February, but still a far cry from the average 3.94% of five years ago. Rates like that discourage both potential buyers facing high rates and would-be sellers who don’t want to let go of their low-rate mortgages and buy something else at a higher rate. That may change in the near future, however.
“Although the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank did not lower rates at its July 31 meeting, it suggested that it might do so in mid-September,” Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, wrote in the NMLS statement. “A weak jobs report, largely reflecting a growing labor force, combined with low inflation suggests that the Fed will indeed lower rates next month with additional rate cuts expected at subsequent meetings.”
Months of inventory increased between July 2023 and July 2024, but most drastically in Adams County. A healthy market has between four and six months of inventory.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.