Home sales up despite higher interest rates
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 5 months AGO
This home for sale in Moses Lake was listed at $289,500 as of Wednesday, according to Realtor.com. Median home prices in Grant County rose more than 13% over the last year.
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. | May 10, 2024 1:45 AM
KIRKLAND — Activity in the housing market increased in April in spite of rising interest rates, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which compiles statistics from 26 of Washington’s 39 counties. Interest rates have increased by 0.38 percentage points over the past month to 7.17%, continuing to constrain prospective buyers’ purchasing power and prospective sellers’ willingness to give up low-interest-rate mortgages, according to the NWMLS.
Closed sales statewide increased 13.5% between March 2024 and April 2024, although Grant County saw a 13% decrease and Adams County dropped 20%. Closed sales in Washington were up nearly 10% over last April, according to the NWMLS. Closed sales in Grant County were up 12% year-over-year, but Adams County dropped by more than 50% year-over-year.
The number of homes on the market increased by almost 21% across the state, according to the NWMLS. Twenty-three counties saw an increase, including Grant County, which rose 16%. Adams County was virtually unchanged between April 2023 and April 2024. Active listings in Adams County rose between March and April 2024 by 29%, and in Grant County by about 4%.
The median price of homes rose by about 7% statewide between April 2023 and April 2024, according to the NMLS. Grant County median prices were up 13%, while Adams County dropped by about 1%. Grant and Adams counties had the second- and third-lowest median prices in Washington, at $340,000 and $331,500, respectively.
NWMLS also provided insights into consumer activities during April 2024:
· Keyboxes located at listed properties were accessed 152,999 times in April 2024, a 3% increase from activity in March 2024 when they were accessed 148,536 times.
· 122,975 property showings were scheduled in the NWMLS system in April 2024, similar to the 125,193 that were scheduled in March 2024.
· In April 2024, there were 13,761 listed properties that were eligible for financial assistance in the Down Payment Resource program, which made up 70.8% of all listings on NWMLS. The DPR program is directly integrated into NWMLS systems and provides buyers with a list of financial programs that could help them purchase a home.
“The increase in year-over-year sales transactions signals that buyers and sellers are beginning to adjust to the higher interest rate environment,” Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, wrote in the NWMLS announcement.
By the numbers:
Changes are from April 2023 to April 2024
Active listings
Statewide 9,813 +20.94%
Grant County 244 +16.75%
Adams County 94 46.88%
Closed sales
Statewide 5,847 +9.54%
Grant County 66 +11.86%
Adams County 8 -52.94%
Median price
Statewide $651,000 +7.92%
Grant County $340,000 +13.33
Adams County 331,500 -1.34%
SOURCE: NWMLS
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”