June housing data has been released for Thurston County. Here’s what it shows

The Thurston County housing market just seems stuck, according to new June data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service this month.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: inventory remains low, sales were down and yet the cost of a home became a little more expensive last month, the data show.

Sales fell by 8% in the year-over-year period and inventory is still below two months. A market that doesn’t favor either buyer or seller is thought to have inventory in the range of four to six months.

Thurston County was one of five counties to have the lowest inventory in the region, the data show. The other four were King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties.

In other words, it continues to be a market that favors the seller over the buyer. And although mortgage interest rates are down from last month, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage is still near 7%, according to Freddie Mac, which tracks interest rates.

A change in rates could change things for home buyers.

“We are still expecting rates to moderately decrease in the second half of the year and given additional inventory, price growth should temper, boding well for interested home buyers,” said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater in a statement.

For the moment, though, the median price of a single-family residence here rose to $524,945 last month from $515,000 in June 2023, a difference of about 2%.

So why does the median price keep going up if interest rates are higher and sales fell? Low inventory and out-of-area buyers, who, if they came from King County, sold their home for almost twice the median price of a home in Thurston County.

Most of Thurston County’s 1.19% population growth was caused by people moving to the area. Its net migration between 2023 and 2024 reached 3,444, according to the state Office of Financial Management, The Bellingham Herald reported .

The median price of a King County home in June was $965,000.

A closer look at the June data

▪ Single-family residence sales fell 8% to 356 units last month from 387 units in June 2023.

▪ Single-family median price rose 1.93% to $524,945 from $515,000 over the same period.

▪ Single-family pending sales fell about 6% to 411 units from 437 units over the same period.

▪ Condo sales rose to 16 units from eight units over the same period.

▪ Condo median price was flat, rising less than 1% to $339,750 from $337,000 over the same period.

▪ Condo pending sales fell to 10 units from 14 over the same period.

Median sales price of Thurston County homes by map area

▪ 65 homes at $482,000 in Yelm/Rainier.

▪ 48 homes at $633,610 in northeast Thurston County.

▪ 42 homes at $471,975 in Lacey.

▪ 35 homes at $510,000 in Tumwater.

▪ 31 homes at $480,000 in Hawks Prairie.

▪ 23 homes at $531,000 in north Olympia.

▪ 22 homes at $555,350 in west Olympia.

▪ 21 homes at $449,990 in south Thurston County.

▪ 14 homes at $634,950 in east Olympia.

▪ 12 homes at $586,500 in south Olympia.

▪ 12 homes at $532,000 in northwest Thurston County.

▪ 11 homes at $680,000 in southeast Thurston County.

▪ 11 homes at $600,000 in Rochester.

▪ 5 homes at $735,000 in Boston Harbor.

▪ 4 homes at $532,500 in Black Hills.

Source: Northwest MLS