Thurston County had more than 100 homes sell for at least $1 million last year. Now, where are the starter homes in the county?
That's a relative term, of course.
A few decades ago, the first-time buyer starter home might have been less than $100,000. But the median price here has risen to more than $500,000. In fact, the median price in the year-over-year period ending in January 2025 rose 8% to $540,000, according to new data released this week by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Mitch Dietz, the owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty, added that most listings in the county fall between $500,000 and $700,000.
So how much is a starter home today?
Dietz suggested a price under $400,000, and they do exist at that level in the county, but not in great numbers. Dietz found 29 current single-family listings for an amount under $400,000, but only seven of them were in the Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater area. The remainder were largely in south county, he said.
Some possible characteristics of those homes: it might be older, smaller, in need of some work and possibly even a manufactured home, Dietz said.
But remember this: it's considered a "starter" home for a reason, which means it's a beginning and not an ending, and that the owner will eventually build equity, sell the home and move up to another home.
There's good news there, Dietz said. Over the past 25 years in the county, average annual price appreciation has been 5.8%, he said.
The other option for the first-time buyer starter home might be to look outside the county. The median price in January was $329,500 in Grays Harbor County, $388,200 in Lewis County and $415,000 in Mason County, the Northwest MLS data show.
Still feeling priced out of the home market?
Dietz had some interesting data to share: Of all the county transactions in 2024, 46% were handled by a Thurston County-based real estate business. That means 54% came from an out-of-area broker handling the sale for someone moving to the area, including from Pierce and King counties where the median price is well above $500,000.
Those are the buyers who can pay cash or have a completely different perspective about a median price around $500,000, saying, "Oh, I can afford that," Dietz said.
What did sales do in January?
January typically is one of the slowest times of the year, and the volume of sales reflected that. Still sales were even slower than in 2024 — they fell about 4% to 172 units last month down from 179 units in January 2024, the data show.
The data on inventory was encouraging. New listings rose about 30% in the year-over-year period which means inventory last month was above two months. It's still a market that favors sellers, but it could be inching closer to a more balanced market.
A market that doesn't favor either the seller or buyer is thought to have inventory in the range of four months to six months.
A closer look at the data
— Single-family home sales fell about 4% to 172 units in January 2025 from 179 units in January 2024.
— Single-family home median price rose 8% to $540,000 from $500,000 over the same period.
— Single-family pending sales were flat, falling to 271 units from 272 units over the same period.
— Condo sales fell to three units from 21 units over the same period.
— Condo median price fell to $325,000 from $359,950 over the same period.
— Condo pending sales fell to 10 units from 17 units over the same period.
Thurston County sales, median price by area for January
— Hawks Prairie: 23 sales, $495,000.
— Yelm/Rainier: 22 sales, $442,500.
— Tumwater: 21 sales, $589,000.
— West Olympia: 17 sales, $570,000.
— Northeast Thurston: 16 sales, $572,500.
— Lacey: 15 sales, $473,000.
— South Olympia: 11 sales, $540,000.
— South Thurston: 10 sales, $689,500.
— North Olympia: Eight sales, $428,000.
— Southeast Thurston: Eight sales, $732,500.
— East Olympia: Six sales, $697,450.
— Black Hills: Five sales, $410,000.
— Northwest Thurston: Four sales, $682,500.
— Rochester: Four sales, $408,750.
— Boston Harbor: Two sales, $776,500.
Source: Northwest MLS.
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