Home prices down, houses moving faster in much of the Basin
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 months, 1 week AGO
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 13, 2026 12:50 AM
MOSES LAKE — Home prices dropped in January in Moses Lake, Ephrata and Othello compared to January 2025, according to the real estate website Redfin, but showed a substantial increase in Quincy.
The median price in Moses Lake, according to Redfin’s data, was $313,150, a 10.3% decrease from a year ago. The decrease in Ephrata was 6%, to $315,000, and in Othello the drop was 13.5% to $328,000. Quincy’s median home price jumped 41.5% from January 2025 to January 2026, to $374,950.
The numbers were a little different when calculated by the square foot, however. In Moses Lake, the median price was $230 per square foot, an increase of 4.3%. Othello’s median per-square-foot price was also up, by 13.7% to $266. Ephrata’s price dropped by 12.9% to $206 per square foot, and Quincy dropped 20.1% to $215 per square foot.
The market moved faster in Basin communities as well, according to Redfin’s data. Homes in Moses Lake averaged 31 days on the market compared to 85 days a year ago. Ephrata homes sold in 24 days compared to 77 a year ago, and in Othello homes took 161 days to sell on average, compared to 174 last year. Again, Quincy was the outlier, with a median market time of 30 days, compared to 18 days last year.
Twenty percent of Moses Lake home sales were above list price, according to Redfin’s data, and 21.5% of homes had the price dropped to sell. In Ephrata, 40% of homes sold above list, and 25% had price a price decrease. The same data was not available for Quincy or Othello.
The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rate dropped to 5.98% on Feb. 28, its lowest point since 2022, according to Freddie Mac. On Tuesday, the rate was 6%. At the same time last year, the rate was 6.63, according to Freddie Mac’s data.
This home was listed at $375,000 Wednesday, above the median price of $313,150 for a home in Moses Lake.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.”