Thurston County median home price ends 2019 at $340,000 as inventory plunges
The Thurston County housing market ended 2019 just like it started, with few listings to choose from but enough buyer demand to push sales and prices higher.
That’s according to new Northwest Multiple Listing Service data released Monday, which showed that sales and the median price of single-family homes rose once again in December, while inventory plunged.
Really plunged.
The total inventory of single-family home listings last month was down 54 percent from December 2018, the data show. The result was a months-of-inventory figure in December of well under one month.
That means the county housing market strongly favors sellers, while it continues to be challenging for buyers, especially those who are trying to buy their first home. Months of inventory that doesn’t favor either the seller or buyer is thought to be in the range of four to six months.
“You can be a super-strong buyer (pre-approved for a mortgage, with good credit) and yet you’re still competing against an all-cash buyer or someone who can put down 20-30 percent of the purchase price,” said Steve Pust, managing broker at Van Dorm Realty in Olympia.
Pust said he’s aware of prospective buyers who have made as many as five offers for a home and still didn’t get it, he said.
“This is the worst inventory I can remember — ever,” said Pust, who has been selling real estate here for 22 years. Inventory levels now are lower than they were on 9/11 and following the housing bust prior to the Great Recession, he said. Inventory was low then, but at least there were still lots to build homes on, Pust said.
The lack of inventory here has provided a lift in other markets. Pust said some buyers are looking at Lewis, Mason and Grays Harbor counties.
In Lewis County, for example, inventory there in December was only 5 percent lower than in December 2018, the data show. And yet demand pushed the median price higher than December 2018 by 19.4 percent.
Thurston County single-family home data
▪ Sales rose 5.8 percent to 393 units in December 2019 from from 374 units in December 2018.
▪ Median price rose 6.1 percent to $340,000 at the end of 2019 from $320,500 at the end of 2018.
▪ Pending sales rose 6.5 percent to 358 units in 2019 compared to 336 units in December 2018.
Thurston County condo data
▪ Sales rose to nine units in December 2019 from four units in December 2018.
▪ Median price rose to $241,750 in December 2019 from $189,000 in December 2018.
▪ Pending sales were unchanged at 16 units.
