July 2024 Housing Market Update: Inventory Up in Nearly Every Price Range

This summer’s housing market looks a lot like last year’s. Inventory is up, sales activity is up, and prices are holding steady–up one month, down the next.

But there’s one exception that I’ll mention below when I talk about sales activity, so let’s dive into this month’s numbers!

Inventory of Homes for Sale

Inventory across the Tri-Cities was up 9% for the month to 845 available homes (as of our July 8 snapshot). That’s the most we’ve had since last November. Inventory has now risen for three consecutive months, just as it did last summer.

Speaking of last summer, we had 623 homes for sale in July 2023. So this month’s inventory of 845 homes is 36% more than a year ago. Compared to last year, we have more homes available in just about all price ranges for both existing and new homes:

• Existing homes under $300,000: up 32% (year-over-year)
• Existing homes under $400,000: up 28%
• Existing homes under $500,000: up 28%
• Existing homes above $500,000: up 43%
• New construction under $500,000: up 68%
• New construction above $500,000: down 12%

Both Kennewick (310) and Pasco (218) currently have more homes for sale than any time since we started tracking our own numbers in late 2018.

Any way you look at it, we have lots of homes to choose from right now, which is great news for buyers. For sellers? It means you’re competing against a lot of other homes, so make sure your home is in tip-top shape when buyers come through, and be sure to price your home correctly.

Home Sales

Sales activity is also up, but just slightly. We had 323 closings last month, a 2% increase over May.

This is where things are a bit different from last summer. A year ago, both inventory and sales were rising–but sales were outpacing new inventory by a wide margin. From May to June 2023, sales were up 16%; as I said, this month’s sales are only up 2% from May to June.

In other words, sales activity is rising like usual in the summer–but it’s not rising as much as last summer. It’s hard to say why this is the case. Interest rates are only a little higher than they were at this time last year, and home prices are about the same.

Tri-Cities Home Prices

Our median home price for last month’s sales dropped about $5K and stands at $424,900. That’s down about 2% from one year ago.

But in the big picture, home prices remain steady. We’ve now hit 21 straight months with the monthly median price sitting in the $399,000 to $435,000 range.

And that’s a look at this month’s Tri-Cities housing market! As always, please drop us a note if you ever have questions about what’s happening around town or in your specific neighborhood.

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