In a statement released on May 5, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (Northwest MLS) said some normalcy may return to the Western Washington housing market due to “rising interest rates and inflation, coupled with slight improvement in inventory.”
According to the statement, sales of homes in 26 counties had a list price to sales price ratio of 107.8%, down from March’s 12-month peak of 108.2%.
James Young, who directs the University of Washington’s Washington Center for Real Estate Research, said in the statement the data “is evidence that interest rates are having a cooling effect on some parts of the suburban market and along the I-5 corridor.”
Young also discussed the housing market in Lewis, Thurston, and Mason counties. According to Young, those three counties have “some of the best values in median house prices.”
“It will be interesting to see how interest rates influence these markets as the search for value among first time buyers continues,” Young said.
In Lewis County, there were 130 active listings, an increase of 36.84% from a year ago and 18.2% from March. There were an additional 16 pending sales in April, up from 15 in March, and 19 closed sales, up from 12 in March. The median closed sales price in April was $389,000, a 15.89% increase from a year ago but down from March’s $399,000.
