Thurston Co. home sales perk up as interest rates fall. What’s the median price?
Thurston County home sales rose in December, likely helped by a corresponding drop in mortgage interest rates over the month, according to new housing data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Not only did rates fall over the month, they also are much lower than they were in December 2024, said Mitch Dietz on Thursday. He’s the owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty in Olympia.
Over the month, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage — one of the most common mortgage products — fell to 6.2% from 6.36%, he said. A year ago mortgage interest rates stood at 7%, Dietz said.
The result is that home sales rose nearly 7% last month from December 2024, the Northwest MLS data show.
“I feel like things are picking up,” said Dietz, adding that his agents are getting more calls about listings.
But will rates continue to drop? And if so, what does that mean for Thurston County?
If they continue to fall, the housing market will get busier, but that brings a familiar problem: more demand with limited inventory means median price could be pushed higher than it already is.
“Although 30-year mortgage interest rates ended 2025 at their lowest point for the year, buyers continued to face significant affordability constraints,” said Steven Bourassa, Director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington, in a statement.
The median price of a single-family listing here last month was $525,000, up 3.55% from December 2024, the data show.
A further drop in interest rates also would likely mean an end to a market easing its way back to a better balance between buyers and sellers. It’s still a market that favors sellers, but inventory has recently climbed above two months, giving prospective buyers a little breathing room.
A market that doesn’t favor either buyer or seller is thought to have inventory in the range of four to six months.
A closer look at the December data
- Single-family sales rose 6.93% to 247 units last month from 231 units in December 2024.
- Single-family median price rose 3.55% to $525,000 from $507,000 over the same period.
- Single-family pending sales rose 2.87% to 215 units from 209 units over the same period.
- Condo sales fell to five units from 12 units over the same period.
- Condo median price rose 2.76% to $318,500 from $309,950 over the same period.
- Condo pending sales rose to 11 units from six units over the same period.
Source: Northwest MLS.
