Home value increases only slightly nationally, more locally
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 10 months AGO
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. | November 29, 2024 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Home prices are up 4.3% nationwide from a year ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the lowest price growth year-over-year in a decade.
The Pacific Northwest had a lower price gain than most of the rest of the U.S., according to the FHFA data. Washington home prices rose 3.1%, and Oregon’s only 1.9%. Idaho was up 4%.
The highest rates of increase were to be found in the Midwest and Northeast. Only Louisiana and the District of Columbia showed a decrease in home prices since last year.
“While house prices continued to increase because housing demand outpaced the locked-in housing supply, elevated house prices and mortgage rates likely contributed to the slowdown in price growth,” Dr. Anju Vajja, Deputy Director for FHFA’s Division of Research and Statistics, wrote in the report.
Local counties bucked the trend considerably, showing a 7.4% increase in Grant County and 8.7% in Adams County. The Puget Sound area showed much less increase; Snohomish County was only up 2% and King County a mere 0.1%. Figures below the state level represent change between 2023, the latest year for which data was available, and 2022.
Among Grant and Adams ZIP codes for which data was available, Othello saw the highest increase since last year at 16.2%. Moses Lake was up 7.8%, Ephrata was up 9% and Quincy was up 7.7%. Two communities showed a decrease: Soap Lake by 0.1% and Ritzville by a whopping 23%.
Longer-term figures show a bigger picture. Washington home prices have risen 481.11% between 1991 and 2024, one of the highest rates in the nation. Between 1990 and 2023, Grant County home prices increased 395% and Adams County homes 457%. Moses Lake prices since 1990 rose 394.7%, Ephrata homes were up 404.4% and Othello’s prices were up 482.5%. Data was not available for Ritzville, Soap Lake or Quincy.
The figures are based on the FHFA’s House Price Index, which calculates the appreciation in single-family house prices.
Interest rates have fluctuated in the 6-8% range, according to data from Freddie Mac. On Tuesday, Freddie Mac showed a 6.84% rate for a 30-year mortgage, compared to 7.29% a year earlier.
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.”