December 2025 Housing Market Update: Bah Humbug!

‘Tis the season for red and green, but this month’s market update is leaning heavily toward red. There are 21 up/down indicators on that graphic, and only two of them are green this month.

Now, before you get this look 😲 on your face, I went back to my December 2024 market update to compare, and guess what? There was only one green indicator! (Back in December 2023, red far outnumbered green, too…although not as dramatically as this year and last.)

All of which is to say, this is pretty normal. When Andy Williams sang “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” he wasn’t singing about the Tri-Cities real estate market in December.

Let’s dive into the numbers and see what’s going on.

Home Sales Last Month

We had a real slowdown in sales activity last month — only 225 homes sold, down 34% from October. It’s totally normal for sales to decline at this time of year, but 34% is definitely a bigger drop than normal. Last December, sales were down 18% and the year before that they were down 11%.

In November 2024, we had 254 closings. So activity is down about 12% year over year.

Richland saw the biggest change last month, dropping 46% to just 58 sales. (I’m not including Benton City nor Burbank since both have so few homes sold each month.)

Last month’s sales took a little bit longer, too. They sold after a median of 30 days on the market, compared to 29 days on the market in October.

Sellers, the combination of fewer sales and slower sales is a clear signal that patience is a must in this market.

Home Prices Last Month

As long as we’re talking about last month’s sales, let’s take a look at prices. Our median sales price dropped almost $12K to $427,000. For the month, that’s a 2.7% decline.

One year ago, our median sales price was $429,900, so we’re down just 0.7% year over year.

The only bright spot for homeowners was in Richland, where home prices rose for the second straight month and now stand at $470,000.

Meanwhile, across the river in West Richland, prices have dropped for two straight months. Last month’s $415,000 is the lowest median price all year.

Active Homes for Sale

We’re red across the board on the Active Listings line, and that’s not a surprise. A lot of sellers typically avoid selling their homes at this time of year.

When we did our market snapshot on Dec. 8, there were 1,086 homes for sale — down 8% from November. But that’s still 24% more homes for sale than we had one year ago.

If recent history holds true, the number of homes for sale will continue to drop again for the next couple months, and then go up as we get close to spring.

To sum up: Bah humbug! The winter market hibernation is underway. Sales, inventory, and prices are all down. On the bright side, this is normal for this time of year in the Tri-Cities.

As always, please get in touch if you have questions about what’s happening around town or in your specific neighborhood. Use the TEXT US tool below to send a text, call us at (509) 392-4705, or contact us via email — whatever’s best for you!

(*Remember that days on market can sometimes be skewed by how new construction homes are processed in the MLS. )