As the seasons move from winter and deeper into spring, the Thurston County housing market typically finds new life in the form of more sales. But that did not happen in April, according to new data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Instead, sales were flat in the year-over-year period, and although median price inched higher to $512,400 from the year-ago period, it was down sharply from a median price of $535,000 in March, the data show.
So what happened?
Windermere Olympia owner Steve Garrett said the market hit a “small lull” in April.
“We did not see the number of showings we normally see,” he said.
Open houses were still pretty well attended and yet the offers did not materialize, Garrett added.
Higher mortgage interest rates probably didn’t help.
Over the past five weeks, average mortgage interest rates on a 30-year mortgage climbed to as high as 7.22%, then dipped to 7.09%, according to Freddie Mac, which tracks rates.
“An environment where rates continue to hover above seven percent impacts both sellers and buyers,” Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said in a statement. “Many potential sellers remain hesitant to list their home and part with lower mortgage rates from years prior, adversely impacting supply and keeping house prices elevated. These elevated house prices add to the overall affordability challenges that potential buyers face in this high-rate environment.”
One encouraging sign, at least in Thurston County, is that new listings last month outpaced totals from last year, the data show.
New listings for single-family residences in April totaled 407, up from 352 in April 2023. Don’t get too excited, however, because it’s going to take a few months of that to get inventory off the mat.
Months of inventory remained below two months in April, according to the data. A market that doesn’t favor either buyer or seller is thought to have months of inventory in the range of four to six months.
A closer look at the Thurston County data
▪ Single-family residence sales rose 1.82% to 279 units last month from 274 units in April 2023.
▪ Single-family median price rose 4.57% to $512,400 from $490,000 over the same period.
▪ Single-family pending sales rose 7.32% to 396 units from 369 units over the same period.
A closer look at the 279 single-family home sales in April
▪ 55 units sold at $479,990.
▪ 38 units at $589,500.
▪ 34 units at $509,500.
▪ 31 units at $481,750.
▪ 20 units at $521,200.
▪ 18 units at $527,450.
▪ 18 units at $422,500.
▪ 14 units at $497,500.
▪ 13 units at $550,000.
▪ 10 units at $487,500.