Thurston housing inventory remains at historic low, pushing median price to $351,167
Thurston County home sellers are in total control.
After a year in which the Thurston County single-family housing market already favored sellers, the new year has started off even more in their favor as inventory remains at historic lows and the median price continues to rise.
That’s according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service data for January, which showed that inventory was 50 percent lower than in January 2019 and the median price, backed by buyer demand, rose 11.5 percent, the data show.
It’s a market almost without precedent, said Ken Anderson, president and owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty of Olympia.
“In the 20 years prior to November, our market never had a month below 400 homes for sale,” he said.
And yet sales rose nearly 8 percent from January 2019, the data show.
Thurston County’s relative affordability — a January median price of $351,167 versus $630,525 in King County — continues to attract buyers from outside the county.
“This affordability is contributing to huge inbound migration from buyers in less affordable counties to the north,” Anderson said.
But life among buyers is not easy.
“Multiple offers have been common the past few years, but this is uncharted territory,” he said. “We’ve seen at least a doubling in the amount of offers per home. It is a competitive market for buyers right now.”
The inventory data underscores this point. The county has less than a month’s supply of inventory. A market that doesn’t favor either buyers or sellers is thought to have four to six months of inventory.
Based on buyer demand, Anderson said it would be a record year for sales if more people decided to sell their homes.
But if you sold your home and didn’t want to or couldn’t compete with other Thurston County buyers, where would you go? Lewis County?
Sales of single-family homes there rose 52 percent in January to 87 units from 57 units in January 2019.
If you’re planning ahead, Anderson projects that the median price will rise 7 percent in 2020. “It will be another robust year in Thurston County home sales,” he said.
Thurston’s single-family home data for January 2020
Sales: Rose 7.9 percent to 286 units from 265 units in January 2019.
Median price: Rose 11.5 percent to $351,167 from $315,000 a year ago.
Pending sales: Fell 18.5 percent to 362 units from 444 units in January 2019.
Thurston condo data for January 2020
Sales: Rose to 12 units from 11 units in January 2019.
Median price: Fell 6.3 percent to $168,500 from $179,900.
Pending sales: Rose to 16 units from 15 units.
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
