Braced for growth

SOAP LAKE — The real estate market in Soap Lake is similar to other surrounding areas, but still not as strong as it could be with lower inventory and a softening market, said Realty Executives Grant County Broker Raymond Gravelle.

Gravelle is also the president of the Grant County Association of Realtors and served as the mayor of Soap Lake from 2014 to 2019.

“We do have an inventory crunch … Our inventory is still low. That is keeping pressure on the prices,” said Gravelle. “In the past three years, there's been 23 new homes sold with average stays on market of 35 (days) and an average price of $324,509. So today's average price is 4% lower than the average price over the past three years.”

Gravelle explained what this means for the market in Soap Lake.

“The numbers, the statistics, say that the market is softening. There is a slight depreciation in the value. That 4% number, that's on brand new inventory. So that shows a slight softening in the prices and an increase in the inventory. It is better than in other parts of the country, but not as good as it was, say, a year ago.”

The number of homes for sale in Soap Lake is up 15.4% from a year ago, but Grant County as a whole is up 39.9%, said Gravelle. Compared to Grant County and Soap Lake’s 2019 peak, the inventory may be up from a year ago, but it is still fairly low. Like much of the United States, Soap Lake is experiencing high-interest rates as well.

“The market has reacted to that dramatic increase in interest rates,” said Gravelle, “but now buyers are kind of stepping back and realizing that over the long haul, a seven, seven and a half percent interest rate, that’s kind of in the average when you look at it over the last 20 years, we've just been spoiled in recent years … And so buyers have adjusted their expectations on their purchasing power, and they buy less homes now than they could before the interest rate started going up so much.”

Gravelle gave his advice to prospective homeowners looking to buy in this market.

“But I tell my buyers that are sitting on the fence because of interest rates, you know, some of them will say, ‘Oh, we're going to wait till the interest rates come down.’ Well, that's pretty risky … to hope that they may come down. And so I simply say, buy now. If interest rates go down, refinance. If interest rates go up, you look like a hero. In the meantime, you are living in a house, you're living in your residence and you're building equity.”

Looking at market statistics for Wednesday, Gravelle explained the inventory situation in Soap Lake in more detail and in light of the high-interest rates and home prices.

“The number of homes for sale in Soap Lake peaked in May of 2019 at 23. The low was in April of 2021, which was nine, and today there's 15,” said Gravelle. “The average sale price in Soap Lake is $275,909 which is a 3.4% year-over-year drop. For the county, the average is $369,792 which is a 0.9% year over year decrease.”

The market may be softening, but Soap Lake has still experienced a significant increase in new homes being built in the last decade, said Gravelle.

“I've been here for 17 years, and it definitely has come to life over those years … We've seen in the last 10 years more new home construction than in the previous two decades in Soap Lake,” said Gravelle. “It's a mini building boom, and yeah, it's a little town, but when you put 10 new homes on the market in a year, that's a big deal.”

Gravelle said that he believed the growth to be linked to infrastructure improvements and improvements to Soap Lake’s downtown.

“All of those improvements are starting to pay off now with all of this new construction, and we're hoping that we can attract some big developers,” he said.

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android today.