You’ll Pay More But Fewer Choices in Yakima Real Estate This Year
Despite a tough economy home sales in Yakima continue. Like last month, the median home sales price is up but sales are down when compared to the same time last year.
THE MEDIAN HOME PRICE IS UP TO $335,000 IN YAKIMA
According to Cory Bemis, owner of Yakima's John L. Scott Real Estate the current median home sales price is $335,000. Bemis says that's a 0.60% increase from last year at this time when the price was $333,000.
It was a busy month for home sales in April but the number of homes sold is down from last year. Bemis says 135 homes sold in April but it's a 20% decrease from the 168 homes that sold in April of 2022, and a 10% decrease from the 150 homes that sold in April of 2021.
MORTGAGES ARE STILL AVAILABLE BUT AT HIGH INTEREST RATES
All total 434 homes have sold so far this year which is a decrease of 31% from last year and a 20% decrease from 2021.
Bemis says "30-year fixed rate mortgages are averaging a 6.65% interest as of May 8th according to MortgageNewsDaily.com. This is 0.31% higher than 1 month ago (6.34%), and 1.13% higher than 1 year ago (5.52%)."
WILL THE MARKET NORMALIZE ANYTIME SOON?
Bemis says not exactly. He says "it is still a Seller's market with only 2 month's worth of inventory on the market. However, the average days on market is at 78 days and the average list to sale price is 97%. Both of those two stats indicate we could have a balanced market. Bottom line, we have more people who are willing and able to purchase homes than we have sellers who are willing to sell homes."
BUYER DEMAND IS STILL STRONG
Bemis goes on the say "Although the buyer demand is significantly less than it has been in the previous 3 years, it is still 2 to 3 times stronger than where it would need to be for a balanced market based on the number of homes that are currently being listed for sale. Look for the market to remain in our current seller's market until we either see more sellers list their homes for sale, or less buyers looking to purchase."