2025 sees slight real estate market improvement
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 month, 1 week AGO
This four-bedroom home was listed for $324,900 Wednesday in Moses Lake. Median prices are up by more than 8% in Grant County compared to a year ago, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
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. | March 6, 2026 3:00 AM
KIRKLAND — The real estate market in Washington improved in 2025 compared to the year before, according to data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 27 Washington counties. The data is compiled from the work of more than 31,000 real estate brokers in more than 2,400 member offices, according to the NWMLS.
Closed sales statewide increased slightly, by 0.21%, in 2025 over 2024, according to the NWMLS data. In Grant County, closed sales increased by 10.8%, and in Adams County by 17.82%.
The statewide median sales price was $644,500, according to the NWMLS data, a 0.7% increase from the 2024 median of $640,000. The median price statewide in 2015 was $310,000, which demonstrates sustained growth over the course of 10 years.
The median home price in Adams County was $349,999, an increase of 8.36% over 2024’s $323,000 median, while Grant County saw a 5.46% increase, from $345,000 to $363,850.
New construction has risen steadily in Grant and Adams counties. Grant County saw 262 new units on the market in 2025, an increase from 224 in 2024 and 205 in 2023, according to NWMLS data. Adams County added 28 units in 2025, compared to 26 in 20924 and 27 in 2023. The median price for a new home in Grant County was $360,760, a 5.38% increase from $341,355 in 2024. In Adams County, the median price for a new home was $395,855, up 4.05% from $380,450 in 2024.
Interest rates, which have slowed growth for the last several years, dipped from 2024 to 2025, according to Freddie Mac. The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage started at 6.91% in January and ended at 6.15% in December 2025, compared to 2024 when rates went from 6.62% at the beginning of the year to 6.85%.
Despite the interest rate drop, affordability continued to be an issue in Washington state, according to the NWMLS data. Average active listings rose more than 34% between 2024 and 2025, while new listings increased by only 8.9%, implying a longer time on the market.
“Affordability constraints continue to put a damper on sales activity,” Steven Bourassa, Director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, wrote in the NWMLS data release. “Average 30-year mortgage rates dropped only slightly last year, from 6.72% in 2024 to 6.60% in 2025, which was not enough to overcome buyers’ affordability issues, particularly when prices were more or less stable. However, rates were declining toward the end of 2025, which could lead to greater affordability and more transactions in 2026 if the trend continues.”
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Family drama
‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ opens Friday in Quincy
QUINCY — The Biblical story of Joseph will come to life in song this weekend, as Quincy Valley Allied Arts opens “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” Friday. “(The writers) originally wrote it for a kids’ school,” Director Brian Higgins said. “You have a bunch of different genres of music. There’s a country-western song in the show. There’s a sad song. There’s a little bit of early rap elements. It’s kind of a tour through different musical genres to keep kids interested.” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” follows a story familiar to many from the Bible. The patriarch Jacob has 12 sons, but his clear favorite is Joseph, the second-youngest, who has dreams that his destiny is to rule over his brothers. Naturally, the other 11 are not huge fans of this idea, and when Jacob gives Joseph a fancy coat of many colors, that proves too much for them and they sell him into slavery.
Youth Dynamics to mark 30th anniversary
MOSES LAKE — Youth Dynamics will hold a three-day party this week to mark 30 years of Christian outreach. “I was talking to the president of Youth Dynamics, and I (said), ‘I’d really like to do a celebration weekend,’” said Moses Lake Youth Dynamics Director Sean Sallis. “It’s not a fundraiser; we’re not going to have an auctioneer here selling items or anything like that.” The event will celebrate four pillars of Youth Dynamics’ ministry over the years.
Farm fun
Palmer’s Adventure Farm features friendly animals, play equipment and apple artillery
MOSES LAKE — There’s a whole lot to do at Palmer’s Adventure Farm, about five miles east of Moses Lake. We have a train for the kids to go on,” said Shane Palmer, who owns Palmer’s Adventure Farm with his brother Kyle Palmer and their wives Vanessa and Janelle. “We added animals this spring. We’ve got a mini-Highland cow. We’ve got goats and bunnies and donkeys, and they can feed the animals. We just put in two jump pads for the kids. They’re air pillows inflated with a big blower and a fan, and the kids jump on it like a trampoline and have a blast. We’ve got a mega-slide (and) a double barrel slide into a corn pit. It’s like a sandbox, but it’s full of corn and the kids play in it.” Palmer’s Adventure Farm started out four years ago as Strawbelly’s Straw Maze on Wheeler Road, Shane said.