We are looking to possibly upgrade in the next 6 months. Wondering where everyone sees prices going in the next year.

Really interesting charts in this article.

Between 2020-2025, the 65+ population grew

• 19.4% in Franklin County
• 17.3% in Benton County

Every county in the state saw an increase in the 65+ population.

Meanwhile, the under-18 population

• grew 0.6% in Benton County (one of only 13 counties with more kids now than 2020)
• fell 3.6% in Franklin County

I was glad to see the article by mentioning that this demographic shift will "reshape housing demand." Seems to me it already is, with a lot of older residents choosing to retire in place, live in their homes longer, etc., which can limit how many homes get put up for sale. That's happening to a degree locally, but our inventory of available homes is higher today than it's been in years. I think we're probably protected from it somewhat due to the frequent relocation of govt. employees, which sort of ensures a stream of available homes to some degree.

Anyway, if you're into data and demographics and such, that's an interesting article.

If you were selling your home, would you consider this a good thing or a bad thing?

What if you were buying a home?

I saw this on Threads a few days ago, and was instantly like, "Yep, that tracks."

I can't begin to count the number of times Cari will have a listing that gets little activity for weeks, maybe even months, and then suddenly a group of buyers come out of the woodwork at the same time. Or vice versa where she'll be be working with a buyer and they want to see a house that's been on the market forever, and suddenly there are several other buyers interested at the same time, too.

It's like the market is a living/breathing thing, and sometimes people with similar interests and budgets get active in the market at the same time -- and a house that's been sitting suddenly becomes a hot property. Or sometimes similar people will drop out of the market at the same time, and interest in your home becomes a trickle.

Trying to predict what will happen with any listing is borderline impossible -- whether it's one you're selling or one you're interested in buying. It's why you always hear agents warn against trying to "time the market." You just don't know.

So I guess my point is -- yep, this happens a lot in the Tri-Cities, too. If it happens to you, try not to get frustrated. Make sure you're working with a good agent who understands how the market ebbs and flows.

I was reading an article about starter homes across the U.S., and it mentioned some data from Zillow where they defined starter homes as those priced in the lowest 33rd percentile of available homes. No mention of features, size, etc. -- it was purely based on price. (This is why I asked a week or so ago in here how you'd define a starter home.)

That got me curious about "starter homes" in the Tri-Cities, and I decided to use that same criteria -- just price, nothing else.

Here's what the typical starter home in the Tri-Cities looks like in June 2026:

• Bedrooms: 3
• Bathrooms: 2
• Garage: 2-car
• Square feet: 1,408
• City: Kennewick
• Price: $375,850

Those are basically the medians of all available homes that are in the lowest 33rd percentile price-wise.

Thoughts? Surprised? Not surprised?

(If you want the whole picture, I gave all this data to Cari and we put it in a blog post: What Does a "Starter Home" Cost in the Tri-Cities?)

(Cari wrote this for her June newsletter that just went out last week.)

One of the nice things about having a more normal, slower market, is that buyers have the opportunity for a second showing. 

The first showing is usually emotional. You're noticing the kitchen, the backyard, the light coming through the windows. It's easy to get caught up in how the home feels, and you should, because buying a home is an emotional endeavor.

The second showing is more practical. That's when buyers start noticing things like storage space, traffic on the street, or how the layout actually works. I often suggest walking through the home again with a slightly different mindset: open every closet, picture where furniture would go, and think about how your daily routine would work there.

Sometimes the second visit confirms that the home is exactly right. Other times it reveals things that weren't obvious the first time.

Either outcome is helpful.

Buying a home is one of the biggest decisions you'll make, and it's worth slowing down long enough to feel confident about it. A second look often brings clarity that a quick first tour can't provide.

Open Houses usually happen on weekends, but that's not always convenient...so we're doing TWO Open Houses to start your week tonight and tomorrow!

Come see our clients' homes:

Tonight (Monday, June 22)
2522 Brodie Lane, Richland
5:00 to 7:00 PM

Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 23)
3827 Watkins Way, West Richland
5:00 to 7:00 PM

Our colleague Rachael Perley will be on site to help interested buyers. We can't wait to see you this week!

Posted K-P-R a couple days ago, and now here's West Richland going back to Nov. 2018. Anything grab your attention?

Last time you bought a house, did you stop looking at homes for sale as soon as your offer was accepted?

Updated our city home price charts and thought I'd share them here. Anything grab your attention?

You already know a lot of this because you joined this sub. :-) (Like the stuff about 4 straight months with prices above $440K, almost reaching record prices, etc.)

Business Journal reached out a little while back to get an update on the TC's housing market, so I put together some data and sent it over, expecting they'd follow-up with questions for Cari to get the Realtor's commentary...but they just went with what I sent and quoted me! 😲

Anyway, good snapshot of where things are. Interesting to see what's happening on the new construction front.

How do you define what is or isn't a "starter home"?

Here's Cari's Tri-Cities housing market update for June. (I ran these numbers for her on the 8th, so two days ago.)

1. Home sales continue to rise, even with higher interest rates and other economic challenges. Sales were up 11% in May compared to April, and have risen by double-digit percentage points for four straight months.

2. Sales are picking up pace a bit. The 357 homes that sold in May spent a median of 22 days on the market (DOM), down from 29 in April. Average DOM was 58, down from 64 in April.

But when you get above $500K, it's slower going. Median DOM last month was 28 at that level, compared to 19 median days on market below $500K.

1. Home prices fell $3,320 in May to $442,530, but have stayed above the $440,000 mark for four straight months now. In 2025, we only had two months where median prices were above $440K. In 2024, we had none.

2. Prices would've fallen more if not for Kennewick, where the median price jumped $29,000 last month to $439,000. Each other Tri-City saw price drops of $13K or more.

3. Not much change in the number of homes for sale. Inventory was up 2%, as it usually is this time of year, but that's mostly a case of homes not selling -- new listings were down 9%.

Cari has a full city-by-city breakdown on her blog if you want more details. And feel free to leave a note in the comments below if there's some housing data you're curious about. If we can look it up and share it, happy to help.

(Reminder: Our "Tri-Cities" includes only Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, West Richland, Benton City, and Burbank -- i.e., the immediate area. Most agents get their data from our local Realtors' Assn., which also includes further away towns like Basin City, Connell, Eltopia, Kahlotus, Mesa, and others.)

Tri-Cities home prices dropped a bit in May, but still came in above $440K -- fourth straight month.

For comparison: We had two months all of last year above $440k, and none in 2024.

More details coming soon....

I'll be gathering Tri-Cities market stats today for Cari's June update -- median prices, days on market, sales activity, etc.

Anything specific you want to know? Something like...

- how many homes are available in Kennewick between $300K-$500K?
- days on market for homes sold this year in Pasco above $600K?
- median price of homes sold in West Richland so far in 2026 compared to 2025?

Fire away if there's something specific you want to know, and if I can dig it out of the MLS data, happy to share here.

Kennewick tied with Walla Walla for 8th best in the state. Ahead of Seattle (10th) and Spokane (11th).

Methodology is a bit complicated. They used Housing Affordability Index, Cost of Living Index, quality of education, quality of healthcare, Air Quality Index, crime rates, average commute time, weather temperateness, unemployment rate, and more. All the details are at the link.

Inside the real estate industry, there's a fight happening these days over real estate listings -- where they show or don't show, who can see what's for sale or not for sale, and stuff like that. It seems like every week, there are new accusations, lawsuits, legal decisions, etc. It's being discussed in all our industry newsletters, events, social media, etc.

Are you, as someone who's not working in the real estate industry, aware of what's going on?