Housing inventory up, sales down in Washington
This Moses Lake home was listed at $275,000 Wednesday, well below Grant County’s median home price of $370,000.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
MOSES LAKE — Housing inventory continued to increase in Washington state in May, according to data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 27 Washington counties.
Active listings in May 2026 were up 16.8% compared to May 2025, and up 15.2% compared to April 2026, according to the NWMLS data. In Grant County, active listings were up 12.13% over May 2025 and 13.64% over April 2026. In Adams County, active listings dropped 7.27% year-over-year, and remained steady from a month ago.
Closed sales were up 9.5% statewide from April but down 3.9% from May 2025. In Grant County closed sales were down 11.11% year-over-year and 3.6% month-over-month. Adams County closed sales dropped 25% between May 2025 and May 2026, and up 28.57% from April 2026.
The median home price in Washington was $650,000 in May 2026, a change of less than a percentage point from May 2025, according to the NWMLS data. In Grant County, the median home price was $370,000, a decrease of 3.85% from May 2025 but up slightly from April. In Adams County, the median home price in May 2026 was $309,000, a decrease of 11.71% year-over-year but up 6.55% from a month ago.
The average 30-year fixed-mortgage interest rate was 6.48% Wednesday, down from 6.53% a week ago and 6.85% a year ago. Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, blamed the higher rate on the war with Iran and the sharp inflation in energy costs resulting from it.
“Following the general pattern we have seen in recent months, the number of listings continued to grow relative to the same month a year earlier, while sales transactions and prices were both down (or flat) due to the affordability constraint imposed by high interest rates,” Bourassa wrote. “Without any clear resolution to this crisis on the horizon, it is difficult to predict when interest rates will resume the downward trajectory that they displayed prior to the start of the war at the end of February.”