2019 smashed Tri-Cities home sales and price records. What to expect this year

Last year was the hottest year on record for Tri-Cities home sales.

More houses were bought and at the highest prices than ever before, according to the Tri-City Association of Realtors.

Homes were selling at an average of more than 12 each day.

And the median price for the year broke the $300,000 mark for the first time.

The cost of all houses — new and existing combined — climbed by $25,000. That’s a 9% jump from 2018.

The average price of all the homes sold last year was about $321,000.

In all, by year’s end, 4,553 homes sold, said the association. That was a 14.5% jump — up 581 houses — than the year before.

That includes the Tri-Cities, as well as Burbank, Finley and other communities in Benton and Franklin counties.

The previous record was set in 2016 when 4,423 homes were sold, show association figures.

Tri-Cities housing inventory

The relatively low number of homes on the market drove those quick sales, say real estate officials.

Last year, just 537 houses were actively on the market at any one time.

That’s a sharp drop from seven years ago when home buyers had 1,204 active listings to consider when shopping.

Existing homes accounted for nearly 75 percent of the homes sold last year, John Keltch, Tri-Cities Association of Realtors president, told the Herald recently.

The availability of open land for large housing developments is getting limited, said Dave Retter, president and owner of Retter & Company Sotheby’s International Realty.

Without some annexations, the Tri-Cities will be out of land for those types of projects in eight years, he said.

Growing economy

The thriving Tri-Cities economy is fueling the continued demand for homes.

The top economic driver remains the environmental cleanup work at Hanford, but other industries are growing as well, he said. They include agriculture, scientific research, tourism, the medical industry and higher education.

Also, the service industry needed to sustain a community of nearly 300,000 is also a big factor, he said.

Another is the retirement industry. “That’s going to end up being huge here,” said Retter, noting many who move here to work at Hanford end up returning to retire in the Tri-Cities.

“Compared to other places, it’s still an affordable place to live,” he said.

However, he said the Tri-Cities still needs to work on more affordable housing, such as Sotheby’s townhome projects. That’s one way to get prices down, especially for first-time buyers, Retter said.

“The future is very bright here,” he said.

Still, he expects the inventory of homes available to choose from will remain stunted.

Retter said boosting the inventory to a more optimal level of 1,400 homes could only happen if there were major layoffs in the area that triggered a huge number of existing houses to come onto the market.

“You can only build so many new homes... You’re not going to see a flood of homes hitting the market,” he said.