Interest rates continue to drag down housing market in Washington
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 7 months AGO
This three-bedroom three-bath home in Moses Lake was listed at $285,000 Wednesday. Median home prices rose statewide a little over 4% over a year ago, but homes in Grant and Adams counties became more affordable.
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. | January 10, 2025 1:00 AM
KIRKLAND — 2024 ended with a disappointing housing market statewide, according to data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate across 26 of Washington’s 39 counties.
Interest rates were responsible for much of the gloom, according to the NWMLS. While potential home buyers and sellers had hoped for a reprieve, the Federal Reserve’s three interest rate cuts in 2024 failed to produce a significant increase in the market. Rather, in early January the average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.91%, the highest it’s been since last July.
Median home prices went up statewide by 4.3% between December 2023 and December 2024. In Grant County, however, the median price dropped very slightly from $360,950 to $356,582 over the last year, and in Adams County the median price dropped 10.3% from $322,500 to $292,300, the second-lowest median home price of any county.
On the positive side, active listings were up 25% between December 2023 and 2024 statewide, with 21 of 26 counties showing a two-digit increase, according to the NWMLS. Grant County had the second-highest increase in active listings at 39.9%, while Adams County rose 11.1%.
Closed sales also rose statewide. Homes sold in Washington totaled more than $3.69 billion in December 2024, according to the NWMLS, an increase of 24.8%, and the number of closed sales increased by 19.8% over December 2023. In Grant County, closed sales increased 43% between December 2023 and December 2024, while Adams County had 10 closed sales in December 2023 but only four in December 2024.
Months of inventory, or the amount of time it would take to sell all the homes on the market, remained fairly stagnant statewide, going from 1.9 in December 2023 to 2.0 in December 2024. In Adams County, that figure rose dramatically, up 179% to 9.5 months, while Grant County mirrored the rest of the state and held steady at 3.5.
“The 30-year mortgage interest rate was actually higher at the end of 2024 (6.85%) than at the end of 2023 (6.61%),” Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, wrote in the NWMLS data release. He anticipates that mortgage rates will continue to frustrate the market. “We may well be experiencing the pains of adjusting to a new normal, with persistent interest rates of 6% or higher.”
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.