New Data: Tri-Cities Housing Market Gains Momentum in the First Half of 2026

At the halfway point of 2026, the Tri-Cities’ housing market is on pace to outperform 2025. Sales activity is up almost 9% and home prices have risen 1.6% — signs that our market is staying resilient despite a number of headwinds.

In mid-July, we looked at how the market has performed in the first half of the year — January through June — and compared to the same timeframe in 2025. Here’s what we found:

(Green represents data that’s up compared to last year; red is data that’s down.)

Home Sales

Across the Tri-Cities, home sales are up 8.7% so far in 2026 compared to the first half of 2025. Sales are up in all six cities we track:

• Kennewick: up 2.6%
• Pasco: up 10%
• Richland: up 12%
• West Richland: up 15%
• Benton City: up 19.6%
• Burbank: up 50%

There were just under 3,600 homes sold last year. If we keep our current pace, we’ll end 2026 at about 3,900 sales — that would be our most sales since 2022.

Home Prices

Tri-Cities home prices are also up so far this year, though more modestly than sales activity. The area as a whole ended the first half of the year with a median sales price of $442,000, up 1.6% from the first half of 2025 when the median was $435,000.

Home prices have risen the most in Richland, where the median is pushing $500,000. Sales of luxury homes (above $1,000,000) are one thing driving Richland prices up, which I’ll talk about more in a separate article.

Days on Market

Though activity and prices are up, homes are taking longer to sell so far this year. Our 28 median days on market is 7.7% slower than the 26 median DOM in the first half of 2025.

What The Numbers Mean

This momentum is happening even though the market has several reasons to slow down. Consider….

• Mortgage rates began the year a little above 6%, but had risen to 6.43% by the end of June. It’s pretty remarkable that Tri-Cities buyers purchased almost 9% more homes this year without any interest rate relief. It’s also remarkable that a lot of local sellers are giving up their 3-4% mortgage rates to sell their homes and move elsewhere, nearly doubling their interest rate.
• National headlines keep talking about a “sluggish” market with home sales being near three-decade lows. It’s a good reminder that real estate is LOCAL, and that what you see in national headlines may be completely different from what’s happening here.
• Local economic challenges, like layoffs and furloughs out at Hanford — and there’s still more uncertainty about future funding levels.
• Election year uncertainty — this is the wildcard. Our local market is forging ahead, but it’s a factor that could still influence things in the second half of the year.

I wouldn’t say our market is universally hot, but it’s certainly resilient. Sellers can be pleased that buyer demand is driving sales activity, and that prices are up. Buyers can be pleased that inventory is high and they don’t usually have to rush to make offers or win bidding wars to get the home they want.

-Cari

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