Are you in the market to buy or sell a home in Yakima? Cory Bemis, owner of Yakima's John L. Scott Realty says it's still a seller's market. Bemis says the median home sales price today is $350,000 which is a 9% increase over last year at this time when the price was $320,000. A lot of people purchased homes in the month of August in Yakima with 224 sold. 219 homes sold in August of last year so this year saw a 2% increase.
All total 1,436 homes have sold so far this year which is 3.5% increase over last year at this time when 1,387 homes were sold to buyers in Yakima.

Looking for financing?The cost of a mortgage is climbing

If you're in the market for a home and looking for funding Bemis says today 30-year fixed rate mortgages are averaging a 6.25% interest according to MortgageNewsDaily.com.  Bemis says that's 0.8% higher than one month ago, and 3.28% higher than one year ago. But many buyers say they'll take that rate over paying the increasing cost of rent.
Bemis says "here is a stat to keep an eye on: So far there are 348 homes actively for sale (have not accepted an offer) and 265 pending sales (offer has been accepted, but sale has not closed) on the Yakima MLS.

What creates a balanced market?

One month ago there were 318 active homes for sale and 6 months ago there were 151 active homes for sale.  Active listings have been rising, while the number of pending listings has stayed fairly consistent (240-290).
For a balanced market based on the number of sales in the past 4-6 months, we would need to have between 800-1,100 active listings plus pending sales. We currently have 613, which tells us that the overall market is still a "seller's market".
So that's good news if you're selling a home and for buyers there's hundreds of homes to choose from in the Yakima area.

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Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

Gallery Credit: Keri Wiginton

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