March ’22 Housing Market Update: Median Home Prices Hit New Record High

In a late February team meeting, we speculated that Tri-Cities home prices would hit $450,000 sometime this calendar year. Little did we know it would happen so quickly! Yes, that’s an all-time high. It’s the second straight month, and third time in the past seven months, that we’ve hit a new record high for home prices. Let’s break it down more below, and look at where the inventory of available homes stands this month, too.

Median Home Price Record: $450,000

Home prices jumped $30,000 — a 7% rise in one month. If you look year-over-year, home prices are up a whopping 33%, from $339,000 a year ago to $450,000 now.

Home prices also set records last month in both Kennewick and Pasco. The price jump in Pasco is pretty amazing, going from $391,528 in January to $490,000 last month. Pasco had never seen its median sales price hit $400K before, and now it’s knocking on the door of $500K.

Median prices actually went down in Richland and only rose by $1K in West Richland.

It’s looking likely that prices will continue to go up in the foreseeable future, primarily because there just aren’t many homes on the market priced below our median, and buyer demand is still very high. Let’s dive more into available inventory….

Inventory Remains Low and Static

Our snapshot this month found 310 available homes across the Tri-Cities…one more than what we saw a month ago. That’s well below the recent “peak” of 444 homes that were on the market in December. Here’s a breakdown of those 310 available homes:

• They have a median list price of $574,995.
• There are only 60 homes for sale below $400K, and 30 homes for sale below $300K.
• Of the 310 “available” homes, 187 are new construction…meaning you could buy one, but you can’t move in yet. Those new construction homes have a median list price of $628,850.
• The other 123 homes are actually move-in ready. They have a median price of $450,000.

How about a city-by-city breakdown?

• Kennewick: 92 active homes with a $474,900 median list price. 31 homes priced below $400K. 10 homes priced below $300K.
• Pasco: 42 active homes with a $551,950 median list price. Ten homes priced below $400K. Three homes priced below $300K.
• Richland: 111 active homes with a $669,900 median list price. Seven homes priced below $400K. Three homes priced below $300K.
• West Richland: 27 active homes with a $619,900 median list price. Three homes priced below $400K. Two homes priced below $300K.
• Benton City: 35 active homes with a $445,850 median list price. Six homes priced below $400K. One home priced below $300K.

If you want something that might be a good sign for the future, consider this: Last year, the inventory of available homes dropped every month from January through May. So maybe it’s a good sign that this month’s inventory was even one home higher than February.

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.)