Luke Warm Real Estate Sales Expected To Get Hot This Spring

While Yakima real estate sales are slow in this new year they're expected to pick up as the weather warms in the valley. That according to Cory Bemis owner of Yakima's John L. Scott Reality. He says the 2023 median home sales price in Yakima at the end of January was $305,000. Bemis says that's a 5.43% decrease from January of 2022 when the median home sales price was $322,500.

A big drop in sales happened in January

Despite the weather in January that kept a lot of people inside some people purchased homes. Bemis says 75 homes sold last month. While that's a lot of homes it's a 56.4% decrease from the 172 homes that were sold in January of 2022.
So what's happening?

Bemis is optimistic about sales this spring after a tough winter

Bemis says "while the median home sales price dropped 5% year over year in January, we need to keep in perspective that there were only 75 residential sales on the this January. As the Spring season approaches, look for quite a few more homes to be listed for sale in the Yakima area." He says the average Days on Market has risen for 6 consecutive months, and January saw the largest increase going from 78 days in December to 94 days in January.  Bemis however says he doesn't expect that to continue as things change as the weather turns and we get closer to spring.

Mortgage rates remain high

30-year fixed rate mortgages are averaging a 6.39% interest as of February 6th according to MortgageNewsDaily.com. Bemis says that's a 0.19% higher rate than 1 month ago, and 2.52% higher than 1 year ago (3.87%).