Nailing It Down
By Dave Murnen and Pat Beaty
If home purchases are any indication — and we think they are — people are continuing to discover what a great place Grays Harbor is to live.
The residential real estate stats for the month of May — the most recent ones available — show that in nine of the past 15 months, Grays Harbor has been a seller’s market.
“This seems to be caused by a continued influx of buyers from out of the county, attracted by our temperate climate as well as our home prices and lifestyle values,” said Tom Quigg.
Quigg, who founded the Aberdeen and Ocean Shores Windermere Real Estate offices, examines the county’s real estate market each month, based on data provided by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
“For the first five months of 2019, the North Beach region has experienced a significant increase of homes on the market. For the same time period, the City of Ocean Shores has reported 83 building permit applications for stick-built homes,” Quigg said, adding that 150 such applications were approved for all of 2018, indicating a healthy growth of new homes this year.
“The increase in new and used homes on the market is keeping real estate brokers very busy,” he said.
When was the last time you took a drive to Seabrook? The building boom there is definitely continuing, but interestingly it’s not just Seabrook that is booming on the North Beach, but the area as a whole, Quigg said.
In addition, the demand for homes in the Aberdeen/Hoquiam market continues at a robust pace. In fact, that area has been considered a seller’s market for 14 of the past 15 months! As a result, median and average prices have increased by 14.0% and 10.3%, respectively, from what they were in May 2018.
(You may recall that the median price is found by lining up all the prices and finding the middle one, while the average price is determined by adding up the total of all houses sold and dividing by the number of homes sold.)
However, the biggest demand for homes by far is in East County. In this region, which includes Montesano, Elma and McCleary, inventory has been holding to between 1.3 and 1.7 months for the past six months. That means buyers are snapping up the homes almost as quickly as they go on the market.
In addition, home prices in the East County area from March through May are up significantly from the same period in 2018. There’s been an 11% increase in the median price and 12.5% in the average price.
Quigg notes, however, that the biggest change in Grays Harbor County has been on the South Beaches — the Westport/Grayland/Ocosta market.
“Low inventory coupled with the stronger demand has caused a continued upward trend in median and average prices,” he said. “Months of inventory is now at 2.4 months, which is the strongest seller’s market that region has seen in the past year.”
Are you interested in some more stats? Here are the median and average prices of home sales in Grays Harbor in May 2019, as reported by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service:
• For Grays Harbor County overal, the median price for a home was $211,000 and the average price was $224,000.
• Aberdeen/Hoquiam: median $155,000, average $172,000.
• Ocean Shores/North Beach: median $230,000, average $240,000.
• East County: median $262,000, average $263,000.
• Westport/Grayland: median $188,000, average $226,000.
Remember, these stats are for May; June’s numbers should be out soon. Keep in mind that median/average prices can vary greatly from month to month. But overall, this healthy real estate market is very encouraging for our community!
Are you buying a house soon?
Remember, we at NeighborWorks of Grays Harbor are here to help you become a successful homeowner.
We can help you establish good credit and find financing, and even show you how to pre-qualify for a loan.
Give us a call at 360-533-7828 Monday through Thursday, or email our counselor, Julie, at jgalligan@aberdeen-nhs.com.
In addition, check out our website at www.nwghc.org.
We’d also love to communicate with you through Facebook at NeighborWorks Grays Harbor.
Need to fix up the one you’re in?
Perhaps a new house isn’t in your future. If your attention is turning to maintaining the house you’re in, we want you to know about our 3% loans that are available for income-qualified homeowners for siding, painting and roofing needs.
If you are income-qualified and live in the house (owner-occupied), these loans might just be the ticket for you to get a jump on giving your home a facelift this summer.
The 3% loans are for up to 20 years and can help you replace your siding (including a new paint job) and/or replace your roof. The maximum loan amount is $25,000. Call Julie at 360-533-7828 for an appointment to get started.
Dave Murnen and Pat Beaty are construction specialists at NeighborWorks of Grays Harbor County, where Murnen is executive director. This is a nonprofit organization committed to creating safe and affordable housing for all residents of Grays Harbor County. For questions about home repair, renting, remodeling or buying, call 360-533-7828 or visit 710 E. Market St. in Aberdeen. Our office is fully ADA-compliant.
