May ’21 Housing Market Update: Inventory Down 68% Y-o-Y

The strong seller’s market continues! I really wish I had something new and different to share, but no such luck. Inventory continues to decline and home prices are about as high as they’ve ever been. Let’s take a closer look….

Inventory

When we did our market snapshot last week, there were only 163 active listings across the Tri-Cities — an all-time low as far back as any records are available. Of those, 64 are new construction, which leaves just 99 homes across the area that are move-in ready. Richland held on to its same inventory level as a month ago, but inventory dropped everywhere else — including Pasco, where a 34% drop left just 25 homes available when we ran numbers on May 5.

For context, one year ago we reported 514 homes available. So our current count of 163 is 68% lower year-over-year.

In a normal year, inventory would be starting to rise right about now and that would continue well into fall. But obviously, there’s very little that’s normal about this year. Hopefully, we’ll see things start to change soon.

Home Prices

We didn’t set a record, but this month’s median home price of $357,909 is less than a thousand dollars below the record we saw last month. There are new records in both Kennewick and Richland, though — which means all four cities have reached record high prices in the past two months. (That’s two straight months with record highs in Kennewick.)

To compare to one year ago, the median home price across the area was $309,950. So our current median of $357,909 is a 15% gain in one year.

Bottom Line

The bottom line is the same as it’s been the past few months:

• We need more homes to hit the market to help ease this inventory crunch. If you’re thinking about selling, the market is ready for you. Get in touch with any questions you have!
• It’s really tough to be a buyer right now, but we’ve been able to win several bidding wars for our clients recently. If you’re buying, get pre-approved and be ready to act quickly. But also be patient, because you may not get the first home(s) you try to buy.

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.)