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$395,000 – Spokane County’s median home price hits another record in July

Homes in the recently built Country View Meadows neighborhood are seen on the West Plains on June 8, 2021. Spokane County’s median home price increased to a record $395,000 in July. (Libby Kamrowski/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
Homes in the recently built Country View Meadows neighborhood are seen on the West Plains on June 8, 2021. Spokane County’s median home price increased to a record $395,000 in July. (Libby Kamrowski/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)Buy a print of this photo
By Amy Edelen amye@spokesman.com(509) 459-5581

While Spokane County’s median home price surged to another record high in July, a slight uptick in inventory and cooling sales may be signs of a market beginning to normalize, local Realtors say.

Spokane County’s median home price spiked to $395,000 in July, up 31% compared to the $301,509 median in July 2020, according to data from the Spokane Association of Realtors.

Some 807 single-family homes and condos on less than 1 acre sold in July, a 4.4 % sales decrease compared to the 844 in July 2020.

“We are still seeing multiple offers on homes, but we’re not seeing quite as many,” said Eric Johnson, president of the Spokane Association of Realtors. “We are seeing price reductions in some areas. Those have increased quite a bit.

“I think that’s partly because people are expecting 15 offers in the first two days (the home is on the market) and they aren’t getting any offers and are panicking.”

The slight drop in sales and increase in available homes resembles typical patterns in the real estate market during this time of the year. That seasonal shift after nearly two years of frenzied demand could indicate Spokane’s red-hot market is moderating a bit, Johnson said.

“Seeing that natural flow of things returning is somewhat hopeful and may be a sign that we are coming to a place where we are normalizing and aren’t going to see the huge jumps in prices that we’ve been seeing,” Johnson said.

The median existing-home price for all housing types nationwide in June was $363,300, up 23.4% from $294,400 in June 2020, marking 112 months of year-over-year price gains, according to the National Association of Realtors. July data is not yet available.

New-home listings in Spokane County were down to 986 last month, compared with 1,124 new listings in July 2020. However, new listings have gradually increased month to month this year. In June, the county had 961 new listings.

Spokane County had 374 homes available on the market in July, representing a 14-day supply of inventory. That means it would take two weeks to sell all the available homes . By comparison, the county had inventory of 520 properties on the market in July 2020.

The county had 284 homes available on the market in June.

The increase in inventory is promising , said Rob Higgins, executive officer of the Spokane Association of Realtors.

It’s likely home prices will continue to increase as buyer demand exceeds the supply of properties on the market, but it won’t be at the same pace as seen in the past year, Higgins said.

It will be interesting to see if more listings come onto the market and if sales level off in the last half of 2021, Higgins added.

“With that, I think we’ll maybe see not quite as high of an increase in average and median sales prices,” he said. “I’m thinking this next half of the year, we are going to see all that moderate somewhat.”Amy Edelen can be reached at (509) 459-5581 or at amye@spokesman.com.