Grant Co. listings highest in the western part of the county
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 4 months AGO
The part of Grant County that includes Mattawa, shown here, had the most active housing market in the county in March.
FILE PHOTO
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 2, 2025 2:35 AM
MOSES LAKE — The western part of Grant County had the most active housing market in March, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
The strip that includes Quincy, Desert Aire, Sunland Estates and Crescent Bar had 79 active listings in March 2025, according to the NWMLS, a 44% increase over March 2024. That region also led the county in new listings, with 13. At the opposite end of the spectrum was the Royal City area, with only three new listings and eight active. No sales closed in that area during March, according to the NWMLS data.
The median home prices told a different story. The area that includes Wheeler, Warden and MarDon, south and east of Moses Lake, had four closed sales in March at a median price of $641,000. That’s more than double the median price in March 2024,which was $310,500. The median price countywide was $375,499, an increase of 15.54%.
Across Washington, the median home price was $629,600 at the end of February, the most recent month for which data was available, according to the real estate website Redfin. That represents a 1.8% increase year-over-year. Closed sales were up statewide by 2.2% and homes were spending 35 days on the market on average, an increase of four days from a year earlier.
The top 10 areas of Washington with the fastest-growing home prices were al on the west side of the state, according to Redfin, except for Yakima, which came in fourth at 18.8%. 31.6% of homes sold above list price in February, according to Redfin, while 22.5% had price decreases.
According to Redfin’s search data, Washington ranked fourth among states people wanted to move away from between February and March of this year. Sixteen thousand more people in Washington searched for homes outside of the state than searched for Washington homes from elsewhere.
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.