Pasco Real Estate- Busting at the Seams and a Bust for Sellers

The Tri-City Herald (along with the Associated Press) reported some pretty cool stats about Pasco and the surrounding environs in Franklin County.  It’s the fastest growing area in the state of Washington.  Awesome!

That’s just one part of the story, though.  Maybe some of those people are renting and not buying because the absorption rates tell a different story.

The absorption rate is a number real estate agents and brokers use to determine the health of a market.  The number tells us how long it would take for the existing inventory of homes to sell if no new ones came on the market.  Under 3 months indicates a seller’s market, from 4-6 months, it’s pretty balanced, 7+ months, hang in there, it’s gonna take a while, and the buyers can often call the shots.

In Pasco, a house selling for our area’s average price ($181,700, according to the Tri-City Association of Realtors) would be in the absorption rate of 8.59 months.  Euuw!  You could conceive and give birth to a baby by the time you sell your house.  Side note for the gentlemen – the 9 months of pregnancy, FEEELS like 15 to the pregnant person. 

My point is that’s an awfully long time for a house to sit on the market, and in the fastest growing area in Washington, what’s the deal?  You’d think they’d be snapped up, especially in that price range.  In Kennewick and Richland, the houses in that price range have an absorption rate of 3.2 and 3.82 months, respectively.

Here is the scoop – Pasco has more homes available in that price range, so supply is high, even if demand keeps pace.  Kennewick and Richland don’t have that many houses in that price range, so when one comes up, it’s gone within a couple months.

So, if you’re a $175,000 – $199,999 buyer looking for a deal, try Pasco first.

And, Pasco sellers, if you’ve been trying to sell your house at $180,000 for the last few months, reduce your price to $174,900.  That puts you in an entirely different absorption rate (4.8 months) and you might get that house sold more quickly.