A check of Thurston County housing market data for June shows fewer homes came to market, fewer homes were sold and mortgage interest rates continued to rise.
Based on that recipe, it would make sense for the median price to have dropped significantly from last year’s much stronger housing market and low interest rate environment.
But that is not the case, according to new June data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, because demand continues to outpace the limited supply of homes on the market.
Home sales fell 22 percent from June 2022 to June 2023, the data show. Still, 387 homes exchanged hands last month. Combine that demand with a one month’s supply of homes on the market and the median price here remained stable and largely out of reach for a lot of buyers, the data show.
The median price of a home here dipped less than 2 percent to $515,000 last month from $525,000 in June 2022. And on a month to month basis, the June median price of $515,000 was higher than the May median price of $504,000.
In fact, Thurston County was among nearly a third of Washington counties last month in which buyers were paying more than list price for a house.
“Seventeen counties reported a sales-price-to-list-price ratio of 99% or higher for last month’s completed transactions of single-family home sales, topped by Kitsap County at 104.9%,” Northwest MLS officials said. “Also surpassing the 100% ratio were Franklin, King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston, Jefferson, Skagit, Clark, Island and Cowlitz counties.”
Not only is the limited supply of homes being felt in the residential sales market, but also in the rental market.
“Demand is outpacing supply,” said Andrew Barkis, a state lawmaker and owner of Hometown Property Management, a business that manages single-family rental homes.
Because of that limited supply, his business’ occupancy rate is close to 100 percent, he said. He used to rent 50-60 homes a month, but now it’s 14-15 homes a month. The single-family rental market took a big hit during the pandemic as many former landlords sold their rental property and got out of the business because of the eviction moratorium and other restrictive changes to landlord/tenant laws, he said.
More homes need to be built, Barkis said.
What will the Thurston County housing market data look like in July?
There’s a chance that sales and median price come under increasing pressure because the average rate on a 30-year mortgage recently rose to 6.81 percent, a new high for the year, according to Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise that tracks mortgage interest rates.
“This upward trend is being driven by a resilient economy, persistent inflation and a more hawkish tone from the Federal Reserve,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, in a statement. “These high rates combined with low inventory continue to price many potential home buyers out of the market.”
Thurston County Housing Data
• Single-family home sales fell 22.6 percent to 387 units in June 2023 from 500 units in June 2022.
• Single-family home median price fell 1.9 percent to $515,000 from $525,000 over the same period.
• Single-family home pending sales fell 21.4 percent to 437 units from 556 units over the same period.
• Condo sales fell to eight units from 15 units over the same period.
• Condo median price rose 3 percent to $337,000 from $327,000 over the same period.
• Condo pending sales rose to 14 units from 13 units over the same period.
Source: Northwest MLS
