Whatcom County housing price decreases, see how it compares to counties across WA state
Median home sale prices in Whatcom County and Bellingham were down a bit in December 2022, while Washington state remains the third-most expensive state to buy a home in.
Whatcom County’s median home sale price fluctuated throughout December after seeing extreme high and low prices in October and November. December’s median home sale price was $562,500 on Dec. 5 and increased to $565,000 on Dec. 12, until dropping to $550,000 on Dec. 19, according to Redfin Metro Area Data. Redfin, a residential real estate brokerage uses home listings to generate metro area data.
Whatcom County home prices were up 6.4% in December 2022 compared to December 2021. There were 134 fewer homes sold in December 2022 than December 2021, and on average homes in the county are on the market for 33 days before being sold, compared to 11 days last year, according to Redfin’s Whatcom County Housing Market Trends.
But the changes in Whatcom County’s housing market is not too concerning for local real estate brokers, according to Derek Buse, a founding broker at Compass Bellingham.
“Looking back to the U.S. housing crash of 2008 as a baseline of sorts, shows that Whatcom County median home prices fell 18% between the years 2008 and 2012 but by early 2015 had fully recovered. In fact, Whatcom County rebounded much faster than most all the other counties in the state. In other words, our real estate market has been historically resilient when it comes to the ebbs and flows of the ever-changing US economy,” Buse wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
Buse credits Whatcom County’s resilience to its industries, as the county is home to refineries, universities, medical corporations and more that “show a similar insulation to recession forces,” Buse wrote.
Compared to other counties in Washington state, Whatcom County has the eighth-highest median home sale price, according to December 2022 data from Redfin.
In Bellingham, Zillow home values slightly decreased throughout 2022. The median Zillow home value in Bellingham was $723,433 in November, a small decrease from $726,786 in October. Zillow is a real estate company that collects data on real estate, apartments and home values.
Washington’s housing market
Across Washington state, home prices have decreased by 9.4% between April and October, as October reached a median home value price of $588,800, according to RedFin.
Median home sale prices extremely vary by county. Lincoln County had the highest median home sale price in December at $850,000, and Adams County had the lowest at $180,000, according to RedFin.
Washington is the third-most expensive state in which to purchase a home, following California with a median home value price of $754,600, and Hawaii at $733,700.
This story was originally published January 16, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
