Tri-Cities Real Estate Market Update: November 2020

Since we’re in the time of year when real estate activity usually slows down, and since we already had serious inventory challenges, this shouldn’t come as a surprise:

Current Tri-Cities housing inventory is lower than it’s been in the two years we’ve been tracking it. (Note: The Tri-Cities Assn. of Realtors measures housing activity beyond just the six cities you see on our report above.) When we took our snapshot last week, there were only 450 homes on the market. The previous low happened two months ago when inventory was at 473 homes. For comparison, our November 2019 snapshot showed 729 homes on the market. So right now, we have 38% fewer homes available than we did a year ago.

At the same time, home sales are higher than normal. Last month, we had 500 homes close in the Tri-Cities. That’s the second-highest number we’ve ever had, and only the second time we’ve had 500 transactions in a single month. (Back in August, we reported 520 homes sold the previous month.) If you want a year-over-year comparison, last November we reported 432 homes sold. So this year’s total is 16% higher.

All of this creates real challenges for anyone wanting to buy a home right now. We’re working with lots of buyers at the moment — we get it.

Here’s what else stands out from this month’s housing market numbers:

• The area’s median price of $338,900 is the second-highest ever, behind $340K last month.
• In both Kennewick and Richland, the active inventory above is the lowest it’s been in the two years we’ve been doing these reports. And since those two cities typically have the most homes for sale in the area, their declines are driving the whole area’s inventory decline.
• Richland’s 146 homes sold last month is a record there.
• Both Richland and Pasco set new median sales price records at $374,347 and $320,000, respectively.

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.)