The National Association of REALTORS® has released their market statistics for the Kennewick-Richland-Pasco area first quarter 2013. Our area did see a modest increase in median home prices year over year (comparing quarter 1 of 2012 with quarter 1 of 2012) of 2.3%, putting our median home price at $181,700.
Nationally, median home prices rose 11.2% comparing quarter 1 2012 with quarter 1 2013, but remember, many areas of the country saw big declines between 2009-2011 and are still not back up to pre-recession levels. In fact, the National Association of REALTORS® also tracks “Housing Equity Gain” which reflects price appreciation over 3,7, and 9 year terms. The 7-year Housing Equity Gain for the US total is still -$40,867 although Kennewick-Richland-Pasco reports a 7 year Housing Equity Gain of +$29,700.
The below graphs indicate the snapshot of monthly inventory (number of homes on the market) for 2012 vs the first few months of 2013. Our inventory has remained fairly consistent with last year.
The below chart illustrates the year over year number of solds in the Tri-Cities comparing 2012 with 2013. The number of solds so far this year is 900, which is modestly above the 807 sold year-to-date in 2012.
Additionally, NAR tracks building permits. Compared to the previous year (which is actually a sum of the past 12 months of building permits issued), single family housing permits are up 28.4%. (as opposed to 25.6% nationally). This indicates construction is on the rise, which is an indicator that inventory levels have stabilized.
If you have questions on what these figures mean to you, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. You can reach Jennifer Cowgill at (509) 947-5670 or Jessica Johnson at (509) 947-2230.
Sources:
http://tcarmls.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/STATS-FOR-2010-2013-MEDIAN.pdf
