Home sales figures all over the map for February
This home on W. Peninsula Drive in Moses Lake was listed for $225,000 as of March 22 on various real estate sites serving the Columbia Basin. Home sales have been somewhat unpredictable so far this year with closings varying greatly from buyers' and sellers' standpoints.
R. HANS MILLER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
MOSES LAKE — Figures were up and down for the real estate market in Grant and Adams counties in February, according to new data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Active listings were up in Grant County as a whole by 61% between February 2022 and February 2023, according to the statistics, but pending sales were down 14% and closed sales by 35%. The median price of a home held fairly steady, up from $325,000 to $325,485.
A closer look at the map shows that not all parts of the county changed in unison. Active listings were up by 500% and pending sales by 83% in the area north of Moses Lake which includes the former Larson Air Force Base. Closed sales in that area were up by 75%, and the median home price was down 24%. In the south Grant County area, which also includes the part of Adams County around Othello, active listings were up by only a third, while closed sales were down 83%. The median price of a home in that area jumped by a whopping 768%, from $253,500 to $2.2 million. That area also had the highest months of inventory figure for Grant County, 8 months compared to 3.41 months for the county at large.
In Adams County overall, active listings were up 254% and pending sales up 50%. Closed sales were down by 60%, however, and the median home price was down 18%, from $305,000 to $251 percent.
Changes in Washington state as a whole were much less drastic, with active listings up 109% and pending sales down 19%. Closed sales were down 17% and the median price of a home went from $585,000 to $575,000, a 1.71% drop.
Listings are not coming to the market as quickly as in recent years, John Deely, executive vice president of operations at Bellevue-based Coldwell Banker Bain, wrote in a statement from NMLS. “Low inventory is once again creating multiple offers where good inventory is absorbed quickly. As we move into the spring market, more competition tends to drive pricing down slightly. Sellers getting into the market now have less competition.”