Tri-Cities Real Estate Market Update: November 2019

Remember that trend we talked about a month ago? The one where active listings kept going up a bit each month and the number of homes sold kept dropping a bit each month? Well, for one month we can say this: nevermind. :-/

In one sentence: Most of the changes we talked about last month were reversed this month, and in some cases the reversals were almost to the exact number. Consider this: Two months ago, the Tri-Cities area had 721 active listings; when we checked this week, it was 729. Two months ago, we reported 437 homes sold; this month, we’re reporting 432 homes sold. Two months ago, the median sales price was $305,900; this month, it’s $304,000. It’s like last month almost never happened.

But to be fair, the market still isn’t as tight as it was this summer. As you see above, our current count of actives/sold is 729/432. In July, it was 563/447. So overall, we still have more balance than a few months ago … but we also still have a long way to go before the market is truly balanced.

There are some interesting things we should talk about when comparing November 2019 with a year ago — look for that in an upcoming blog post. In the meantime, here are some other things to know about this month’s stats:

• On the whole, you have to say that home prices across the area have settled. June was the first month we ever had a median of more than $300K — it hit $302,950 that month. But since then, the median price has been up and down and we’re at $304,000 right now. That’s very little growth over the course of five months. I consider this a Good Thing because slow-and-steady appreciation wins the proverbial race and helps us avoid a “housing bubble” situation. (For years back in the day, the Tri-Cities real estate market grew at about 1-3% annual appreciation, sometimes a little higher.)
• We had a streak of six straight months with active inventory going up, but that’s over now. Still, this month we see only 14 fewer homes on the market than a month ago, and that’s nothing to be alarmed about.
• This is the first month since March that the homes sold in all six cities we watch have a double-digit days on market (DOM). (You may recall that most of us were digging out from snow and ice back then.)
• The 168 homes sold last month in Kennewick is the highest that number’s been all year.
• In Richland, the current count of 210 active homes is the highest that number’s been all year.

Give us a call, text or email if you ever have questions about the housing stats here in the Tri-Cities, or even in your specific neighborhood. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the market to help our clients make the best decisions for their buying or selling situations!

(*Remember that days on market can sometimes be skewed by how new construction homes are processed in the MLS.)