Thurston County home sales pick up steam. Here’s the median price
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Thurston single-family sales rose 9.9% to 222 units in February 2026.
- Inventory at 2.5 months keeps market tilted toward sellers despite rising demand.
The Thurston County housing market got off to a slow start to begin the year, but things noticeably picked up last month as sales rose 10 percent in the year-over-year February period.
That’s according to new data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service on Wednesday. Sales of single-family residences here rose 9.9% to 222 units last month from 202 units in February 2025, the data show.
Mitch Dietz, owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty in Olympia, welcomed the February results after calling the previous month “terrible.”
What was so bad about January? The month was “super stagnant” and he said sales were barely higher than the year before. February was much better.
“We’re seeing really robust activity across all price points, including high-end homes,” said Dietz, as well as multiple offers on homes.
“As rates come down it gets competitive,” he said.
Average interest rates on a 30-year mortgage are much lower. The year began with interest rates right around 6%, about a full percentage point lower than the year before.
The other thing at work in the housing market is a trend that typically plays out in Thurston County: Sales begin to pick up as the area emerges from winter and moves into spring and early summer.
The same trend was evident last year when interest rates were closer to 7%, Dietz said, and now the market could really pick up if rates remain closer to 6%.
But that’s the question: Which direction are mortgage interest rates likely to head as the U.S. wages war in Iran?
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, interest rates, inflation and oil prices all rose higher. Some say there’s a risk of that happening again.
A lending expert told CBS news that “mortgage rates could rise more in the coming weeks if the disruption in oil supplies lifts inflation.”
In addition to higher sales, median price stood at $515,000 in February, while months of inventory was at 2.5 months. It’s still a market that favors sellers over buyers. A market that doesn’t favor either party requires inventory in the range of four to six months, experts say.
A closer look at the Thurston County data
- Single-family sales rose 9.9% to 222 units last month from 202 units in February 2025.
- Single-family median price fell 2.74% to $515,000 from $530,000 over the same period.
- Single-family pending sales rose 31.4% to 335 units from 255 units over the same period.
- Condo sales rose to nine units from seven units over the same period.
- Condo median price fell to $199,900 from $322,000 over the same period.
- Condo pending sales were unchanged at 15 units over the same period.
Source: Northwest MLS.
