Thurston County home sales fall 53 percent from November 2021, data show
The Thurston County housing market has made a hairpin turn, according to new data released Monday by Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Coming into that turn was a market with low interest rates, low inventory, strong demand and a median price that rose sharply. Now, coming out of it is a market with higher interest rates, growing inventory, shrinking sales and a flatter median price.
“The data show we’re in a changed market,” said Dick Beeson, managing broker at Re/Max Northwest, in a statement. “High interest rates, doubled inventory levels, anxious lenders, contracts written with negotiations for repairs, closing costs, and other sundry things — all of these have returned to the market.
“Sellers realize they must actually compete with other sellers to gain a buyer’s attention and an offer.”
But the data also shows that buyers aren’t all that interested: Sales here fell 53 percent last month from November 2021.
The median price also was unchanged from a year ago at $474,990 — and was down from $500,000 in October — while the market now has two months of inventory.
A market that doesn’t favor either buyers or sellers has inventory in the range of four to six months.
The most significant change to the housing market has been the rise in the average 30-year mortgage interest rate, which rose to a recent high of 7 percent, but has come down to about 6.5 percent, according to Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise that provides capital to mortgage lenders and tracks interest rates.
That 6.5 percent rate is about 3 percentage points higher than where it was a year ago.
“Even as rates decrease and house prices soften, economic uncertainty continues to limit home buyer demand as we enter the last month of the year,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.
Some think rates will fall, but gradually, said Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner.
“Early in the new year, I expect the Federal Reserve to start pulling back from their aggressive policy stance, and this will allow rates to begin slowly stabilizing,” he said.
Gardner said he expects rates to remain above 6 percent until fall 2023, then fall to the high range of 5 percent.
November home sales data
▪ Single-family home sales fell 53.5 percent to 251 units in November 2022 from 540 units in November 2021.
▪ Single-family median home price was essentially unchanged at $474,990 over the same period.
▪ Single-family pending sales fell 47.6 percent to 259 units from 495 units over the same period.
▪ Condo sales fell to 10 units in November 2022 from 17 units in November 2021.
▪ Condo median price rose to $335,000 from $297,000 over the same period.
▪ Condo pending sales fell to four units from 13 units over the same period.
Source: Northwest MLS.
This story was originally published December 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
