Real estate sale pending sign

LONG BEACH — House prices in south Pacific County continued year-over-year gains in September, with 31 houses selling for a median price of $375,000, 7.45% more than in September 2023, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The pace of sales accelerated after languishing for several months, with 24% more completed sales than a year earlier and 20% more pending sales — 36 this September compared to 30 a year before.

There were 162 houses for sale in the peninsula-Chinook-Naselle area as the month ended, 41% more than in September 2023.

There was also some positive movement in the south county condo market, with one going for $150,000 and seven additional pending sales, two-and-a-half times more than in September 2023. Twenty-six condos are actively for sale, 53% more than a year earlier.

Elsewhere in the county, six houses sold in the Tokeland area for a median of $262,000, 10 sold in Raymond at a median of $272,500 and a single house sold in each of Bay Center, South Bend and Menlo. The overall countywide house price was $343,500, about half a percent higher than a year before.

“The further reduction of interest rates in September by the Federal Reserve provided a positive end-of-the-summer boost to the market,” NWMLS said in its monthly market report.

However, experts caution that without deeper cuts to interest rates, housing affordability will remain out of reach for many would-be buyers.

“Interest rates remain over double what they were just three years ago (6.08% at the end of September versus 3.01% at the same time in 2021 for 30-year fixed rate mortgages). This continues to have a major impact on affordability,” said Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington. “It seems unlikely that the volume of transactions will pick up substantially without some significant improvement in affordability.”