Housing market dips, but less than last year
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 8 months AGO
The housing market in Washington is taking its usual seasonal dip, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, but not nearly as much so as a year ago. This home on Balsam Street in Moses Lake was listed for $350,000 as of Wednesday afternoon according to Realtor.com.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
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. | December 13, 2024 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — ’Tis the season for a sluggish housing market, according to data released last week by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 26 of Washington’s 39 counties.
Active listings were down 15.1% in Washington between October and November of this year, according to the NWMLS. The decrease in Grant County was only 7.5% in the same time, and Adams County's active listings remained almost the same. Closed sales, too, dropped off in Washington by 18.9% between October and November. Grant County closed sales decreased by 14.4%. Adams County again held steady, decreasing only 2% in the same time.
The picture is rather different when it comes to year-over-year change, however: Grant County active listings rose by 47%, the highest of any Washington county, between November 2023 and November 2024. Adams County had a less drastic rise, with 48 active listings in November 2024 compared to 45 a year earlier. Statewide, active listings were up 23.4% year-over-year.
Closed sales increased statewide year-over-year as well, according to the NWMLS, rising by 24.7%. Adams County, again, held steady in closed sales between November 2023 and November 2024, and Grant County lost a little bit of ground, with 69 closed sales in November 2024 compared to 75 last year.
Affordability seems to be a crucial factor, according to the NWMLS data. The median home price of a home rose 16.7% in Grant County and 39.6% in Adams County between November 2023 and 2024, compared to only a 7% increase statewide.
Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, suggested that recent developments in the Washington Legislature intended to promote the production of more housing boded well for home prices in the future, according to the NWMLS. Among the new laws coming into effect in the next couple of years will be an increase in density in residential areas and the promotion of accessory dwelling units.
“It will take time for these new laws to actually produce new housing,” Bourassa wrote, “but the expectation is that they will help in an important way to moderate the cost of homeownership.”
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.