Spokane County median home price drops to $380,000 as sales slow in January

Spokane County’s wild housing market slowed in January, providing potential homebuyers with slightly more properties from which to choose and fewer competing offers.

The county’s median closed home price was $380,000 in January, a 20.6% increase compared to the $315,000 median in January 2021, according to data from the Spokane County Association of Realtors.

However, the median home price last month declined $10,000 compared with the $390,000 median in December 2021.

“We’ve been slowing down a little bit this last quarter, and I think this is a number we were kind of anticipating,” said Rob Higgins, executive officer of the Realtors association. “The market slowed a little bit, but there is still high demand and the critical thing is low inventory.”

Spokane County has 209 homes available on the market, representing a 14-day supply of inventory. That means it would take two weeks to sell all the available homes. The county had a 10-day supply of homes at the same time last year.

“That trended up, which is good,” Higgins said.

Some 411 single-family homes and condos on less than 1 acre sold in January, an 8.1% decrease compared to 447 homes in January 2021, according to data from the Spokane Association of Realtors.

The county had 493 new listings in January, a 3.5% decrease compared to 511 new listings in January 2021.

Higgins anticipates Spokane area home sales activity will be similar to 2021, but price appreciation is likely to moderate this year, he said.

“I’m hoping 5%-to-10% (price appreciation) for the year,” he said. “We went down on the median-closed price December to January, but that’s not unusual.”

December tends to show a higher number of reported sales as buyers rush to close on homes before the end of the year for tax purposes, he said.

The national median existing home price for all housing types in December was $358,000, up 15.8% from $309,200 in December 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors.

January data will be released later this month.