Housing inventory up, sales down in Washington
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 months AGO
This Moses Lake home was listed at $275,000 Wednesday, well below Grant County’s median home price of $370,000.
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. | June 12, 2026 2:05 AM
MOSES LAKE — Housing inventory continued to increase in Washington state in May, according to data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 27 Washington counties.
Active listings in May 2026 were up 16.8% compared to May 2025, and up 15.2% compared to April 2026, according to the NWMLS data. In Grant County, active listings were up 12.13% over May 2025 and 13.64% over April 2026. In Adams County, active listings dropped 7.27% year-over-year, and remained steady from a month ago.
Closed sales were up 9.5% statewide from April but down 3.9% from May 2025. In Grant County closed sales were down 11.11% year-over-year and 3.6% month-over-month. Adams County closed sales dropped 25% between May 2025 and May 2026, and up 28.57% from April 2026.
The median home price in Washington was $650,000 in May 2026, a change of less than a percentage point from May 2025, according to the NWMLS data. In Grant County, the median home price was $370,000, a decrease of 3.85% from May 2025 but up slightly from April. In Adams County, the median home price in May 2026 was $309,000, a decrease of 11.71% year-over-year but up 6.55% from a month ago.
The average 30-year fixed-mortgage interest rate was 6.48% Wednesday, down from 6.53% a week ago and 6.85% a year ago. Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, blamed the higher rate on the war with Iran and the sharp inflation in energy costs resulting from it.
“Following the general pattern we have seen in recent months, the number of listings continued to grow relative to the same month a year earlier, while sales transactions and prices were both down (or flat) due to the affordability constraint imposed by high interest rates,” Bourassa wrote. “Without any clear resolution to this crisis on the horizon, it is difficult to predict when interest rates will resume the downward trajectory that they displayed prior to the start of the war at the end of February.”
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.”