Thurston County home sales hit a wall in August, new data show

Thurston County sales of single-family homes registered a noticeable slowdown last month as sales fell about 8% compared to the previous August, according to new data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

But don’t be too surprised by the change of pace because the area housing market typically drops a gear in August, said Mitch Dietz, the owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty in Olympia.

It’s the final two weeks of the month that can trigger that slowness because people take off for vacations before the start of the school year, he said.

Even in his office’s own internal numbers, he could see the change of pace. Coldwell Banker had 18 pending sales during August’s first week, then it inched higher to 21, then fell sharply to 13 and then 11 pending sales by the final week of the month, he said.

In addition to vacationers, there’s the other overriding reality about the Thurston County housing market: It’s still expensive to buy a home and mortgage interest rates remain relatively high.

The median price of a home last month was $520,250. Average rates for a 30-year mortgage, the most common type of mortgage that home buyers pursue, currently is at 6.5%, according to Freddie Mac, which tracks rates.

Dietz said he recently heard a disappointing forecast that interest rates are not expected to hit 6% until 2027.

Is 6% high? Yes and no. Historically, interest rates have at times been much higher than that, but during the pandemic they fell to around 3% and sales surged. Now, there are many homeowners unwilling to sell because they have such a low interest rate, which has contributed to a lack of supply.

On that note: Inventory in August was unchanged from July, at 2.5 months, which is a market that continues to favor the seller. A market that doesn’t favor either the seller or buyer is thought to have supply that could last four to six months.

A closer look at the August data

• Single-family home sales fell 7.8% to 330 units last month from 358 units in August 2024.
• Single-family home median price fell 1.8% to $520,250 from $529,999 over the same period.
• Single-family home pending sales rose 1% to 403 units from 399 units over the same period.
• Condo sales rose to 11 units from 10 units over the previous August.
• Condo median price fell 3.75% to $320,000 from $332,475 over the same period.
• Condo pending sales rose to 14 units from 11 units over the same period.

Source: Northwest MLS.