Million-Dollar Home Sales in the Tri-Cities Drop Slightly in 2023

After setting a record two years ago, the number of million-dollar home sales in the Tri-Cities dropped slightly in 2023.

There were 50 sales last year with a price tag of $1,000,000 or more, a 15% drop from the 59 such sales that we had in 2022.

That drop shouldn’t come as a surprise. The number of home sales overall dropped 19% across the Tri-Cities from 2022 to 2023.

But look how things have changed — it was as recently as 2018 when we had fewer than a handful of million-dollar sales in the Tri-Cities! Here’s a look at the number of luxury home sales across the Tri-Cities going back to 2012:

You might be wondering why we’ve grown from 3-4 million-dollar sales per year ten years ago to 13, then 35, and now two years with 50+ such sales. I think there are three primary reasons, and they’re all related.

• Tri-Cities home prices went up substantially during the pandemic.
• “Influx” might be too strong of a word, but in the past few years we’ve seen a rise in relocations from more expensive areas — Seattle, Portland, all of California, etc. Those folks are often looking for homes on the higher end of our price range.
• During the same time, the cost of building materials has gone way up. Builders are spending a lot more on labor, lumber, and other materials required to build a new home. When it costs more to build a home, it also costs more to buy a new home.

By the way, this data reflects sales in Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, West Richland, Benton City, and Burbank.