5 things to know about the Thurston County housing market
The Thurston County housing market took a confusing turn in March as median home price was flat, inventory remained tight, mortgage interest rates fell and yet sales also fell more than 25 percent from a year ago, according to new data released by Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
The result is that buyers and sellers appear to be in a standoff. Buyers might still be turned off by interest rates that are higher than they were a year ago, while sellers might be unwilling to give up the lower interest rate they secured a few years back to move.
“All signs point toward a rather unusual market through the end of 2023,” said Dick Beeson, managing broker at Re/Max Northwest, in a statement.
“Lowering prices, lowering interest rates, and longer days on the market signal some of the unpredictability of the current market,” he said.
Home sales
Thurston County home sales fell 27 percent from March 2022 to 315 houses last month, the data show, and that decline was in line with other housing markets in the region. King, Snohomish and Pierce counties all saw year-over-year March declines of 20 percent or higher, the data show.
Median price
Median prices comparing the same year-over-year March period fell nearly 10 percent in King and Snohomish counties, and more than 5 percent in Pierce County. But in Thurston County, the median price between March 2022 and March 2023 was essentially flat, falling less than 1 percent to $499,990.
Although the median price dipped slightly on a year-over-year basis, March’s median price was about $10,000 higher than that of February, the data show.
Inventory
Once again, inventory in Thurston County homes on the market fell below one month. More homes were listed in March than in February, but the 372 new listings last month fell well short of the 526 listings that hit the market in March 2022, the data show.
A market that doesn’t favor either buyers or sellers is thought to have inventory that could last four to six months.
Interest rates
The good news is that mortgage interest rates are trending lower, down to an average of 6.27 percent for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, according to Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise that provides capital to lenders and tracks interest rates. Still, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage was at 5 percent a year ago.
In the region
Looking outside Thurston County for a home? In March, the median price of a home was $341,000 in Grays Harbor County, $407,000 in Mason County and $380,000 in Lewis County.
March data
▪ Single-family home sales fell 27 percent to 315 units in March 2023 from 433 in March 2022.
▪ Single-family median price fell 0.99 percent to $499,990 from $505,000 over the same period.
▪ Single-family pending sales fell 19.5 percent to 399 units from 496 units over the same period.
▪ Condo sales fell to 10 units from 12 units over the same period.
▪ Condo median price fell 2.6 percent to $277,500 from $285,000 over the same period.
▪ Condo pending sales rose to 15 units from 11 units over the same period.
Source: Northwest MLS.
