Listings up, sales down in the Basin
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 16 minutes AGO
This house in Moses Lake was listed for $360,000 Wednesday. The median home price in Grant County was $376,450 last month, according to 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. | September 18, 2026 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Washington home buyers had more to choose from this year, according to data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 27 of Washington’s 39 counties.
Active listings in Washington increased 22% between August 2025 and August 2026, according to the NWMLS data. The growth during that time was much less in the Basin; Grant County active listings rose 10.98% and only 7.1% in Adams County. Compared to July 2026, August active listings held fairly steady in Grant County, rising 2.44%. Adams County active listings rose from 49 in July to 58 in August.
New listings were up 9.3% and closed sales down 7.6% statewide compared to a year ago, according to the NWMLS. In Grant County, new listings dropped from 148 in August 2025 to 128 in 2026. In Adams County, new listings held steady at 16. Grant County’s closed sales rose slightly, by 1.03%, and Adams County closed seven sales compared to 10 in 2025.
The median price of a home in Grant County was $376,450 in August, an increase year-over-year of 2.32% and of 4.5% compared to July. Adams County’s median price was $278,000 in August 2026, a 26.38% drop from August 2025 and 18.24% lower than in July 2026.
The average 30-year fixed-mortgage interest rate was 6.76% Wednesday, up from 6.71% a week earlier and 6.35% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac.
“High interest rates continued to put a damper on the housing market in August,” Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, wrote in the NWMLS release. “Higher rates were reflected in significant declines in numbers of home sales."
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Listings up, sales down in the Basin
MOSES LAKE — Washington home buyers had more to choose from this year, according to data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 27 of Washington’s 39 counties. Active listings in Washington increased 22% between August 2025 and August 2026, according to the NWMLS data. The growth during that time was much less in the Basin; Grant County active listings rose 10.98% and only 7.1% in Adams County. Compared to July 2026, August active listings held fairly steady in Grant County, rising 2.44%. Adams County active listings rose from 49 in July to 58 in August.
Horizon employees give back to community
MOSES LAKE — The team at Horizon Credit Union took some time away from the office Tuesday to tackle a different line of work. “We’ve been doing this for about 10 years,” said Branch Manager Anthony Morris. “We close our branch down at noon and then we spend about four or five hours donating our time to the community.” The effort was part of Horizon’s “Go. Give. Grow.” event, in which all branches closed for half a day so employees could volunteer at a local nonprofit. Eight Moses Lake branch employees spent their afternoon at the Moses Lake Food Bank, sorting and packaging fresh produce. “We just got done bagging plums, cherries, peaches, tomatoes,” said Pieper Hansen, who was sealing bananas in plastic with coworkers Mary Garza and Rachel Buckle.
BASIN EVENTS: Sept. 18-26
COLUMBIA BASIN — It’s officially fall, with cooler temperatures and shorter days. Here are a few things to occupy your week.