Jan. ’22 Housing Market Update: Median Price Climbs Back to $400K

By in Tri-Cities Housing Market with 0 Comments
Published on January 7, 2022 / Last updated on March 2, 2022

I’m hesitant to ever read too much into the market stats that we share every January. That’s because the numbers are a reflection of what happened when most of us are more focused on the holidays than anything else. Once we get to Thanksgiving and then into December, a lot of buyers and sellers put a hold on their plans. (Whether that’s a good idea is a totally different conversation, but it’s true that many do — and it’s understandable, too.)

So with all that said, I’ll invite you not to read too much into this month’s report, either. January’s market stats are a good starting point to see where the market is and where it might be headed for the rest of the year.

Inventory is Down Again

After seven straight months of rising inventory, we finally had a drop. As of January 5, there were 383 homes for sale across the Tri-Cities. It’s down 14% from last month, but it’s also more than double the inventory we had as recently as June. Those 383 homes have a median list price of $561,850 and have spent a median of 71 days on the market.

What is a bit concerning is that 249 of those homes (65%) are new construction — homes that you can’t move into right away. We’d definitely like to see more move-in ready homes on the market for buyers who are looking and need a place sooner rather than later.

This is interesting, too: Those 249 new construction homes have a median price of $594,900. The other 134 available homes have a much lower median price of $442,000. Speaking of home prices…

Median Home Prices are Back Up to $400K

Back in September, we hit an all-time record when the Tri-Cities’ median home price reached $400,000 for the first time. We tied that record this month. Still, as I pointed out last month, home prices overall are mostly unchanged since the summer. The median price back in June was $389,900.

Of particular note, home prices in West Richland jumped to $497,500 — an all-time high. In fact, no individual city in our area has ever had a month where the median home price reached $500K. There’s a chance that could happen soon in West Richland. It could even happen this year in Richland, where the median price of $454,950 is the second highest we’ve seen there.

As always, please drop us a note if you ever have questions about the housing market here in the Tri-Cities, or even in your specific neighborhood/town/city.

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

Get in touch with Cari's team!

Have a question about the Tri-Cities? About the process of buying or selling a house? Get in touch with us below -- name and email are required so we can respond. Please provide your phone number if you'd prefer a call or text message in return.

  • We share Tri-Cities news, real estate tips and local market stats and much more. It's free and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.
  • You'll get new listings sent to your inbox up to a day before the general public sees them. It's free and there's no obligation.

Share This
About The Author
Cari McGee

My husband and I came to the Tri-Cities in 1994, and we thought it would be a temporary stop on our way to larger cities. He was a television sports anchor at the time, and we planned to go wherever the "next step up" took us. Twenty-plus years later, we're still here and we've loved every minute of it! We have two children now, and we've found the Tri-Cities area is a wonderful place to raise a family. It's a great place to do outdoorsy things -- I like to hike Badger Mountain or run along the river path. I also love reading ... by a cozy fire in the winter or a beautiful picture window in the summer (with the A/C on!). I've been a licensed Realtor since 2004. I earned my managing broker's license in 2016, which means I can run my own brokerage, or create a team of real estate agents and supervise them, which is exactly what I did when I formed the Cari McGee Real Estate Team in 2018! We have administrative and marketing personnel, as well as additional agents to serve you. I became a director of the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016, became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, and was elected to Vice President in 2019. Want to talk about real estate? Click here to schedule a meeting with me!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *