Home listings, sales up in Grant County
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 1 month AGO
This Moses Lake home was listed for $359,000 Wednesday. Active listings in Grant County were up by more than a third last month compared to August 2024.
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. | September 12, 2025 3:00 AM
KIRKLAND — More homes are on the market in Washington than a year ago and closed sales are up in Grant County but down over much of the state, according to data released this week by Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 27 Washington counties.
Statewide, there were 20,219 properties on the market at the end of August 2025, an increase of 30.8% over August 2024. Adams County held more or less steady with 54 properties for sale in August 2024 compared to 51 at the same time last year, but Grant County, with 492 active listings, showed an increase of 35.54%.
Comparing August 2025 to July 2025 tells another story, according to the NWMLS data. Statewide listings were down by 2.7%. Grant County active listings decreased slightly from 500 in July to 492 in August, and Adams County active listings went from 58 to 54 in the same time.
Grant County showed one of the largest increases in new listings between August 2024 and August 2025, rising 15.6%, whereas statewide new listings dropped by 2.4%. Adams County showed no change. Between July and August, new listings dropped 25.6% in Grant County and 12.5% in Adams County, compared to a 16.2% drop statewide.
Washington agents closed 5.7% fewer sales in August 2025 than in August 2024, according to the NWMLS. Grant County saw an 11.5% increase in closed sales, while Adams County dropped by 28.57%.
Median home prices rose by 5.11% in Grant County between August 2024 and August 2025, to $367,900. The median home price in Adams County was $377,627, an increase of 22.82%. Washington state median home prices overall held fairly steady, going from $645,000 to $650,000.
The average 30-year mortgage interest rate Wednesday was 6.5%, not too far from the 6.35% rate a year ago.
“Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages declined early in the month, from 6.72% at the end of July to 6.63% a week later, but have dropped relatively slowly since then, ending the month at 6.56%,” Steven Bourassa, Director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, wrote in the NWMLS release. “Pressure on the Federal Reserve Bank to lower its overnight federal funds rate is expected to result in cuts later this year, but it is unclear that such cuts will lead to significant changes in long-term rates, such as for mortgages.”
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.”