Washington State Real Estate Market: Some Starter Homes Top $1M

"$1 million ain't what it used to be"

The typical "starter home" is defined as a home priced in the lowest third of listing prices for a real estate market in a specific area.

As of June, 2024 the price for a "starter home" is at least $1 million in 237 cities, according to Zillow. The figure is the highest number of cities ever and an increase of abut 280% in five years when there were only 84 such cities.

In Washington state, there are 8 cities where a starter home tops $1 million or more, the same number of cities as in 2023. In 2019, there were 5 cities where starter homes exceed $1 million in Washington state.

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Nationwide, the typical starter home is worth $196,611, which is affordable for a median-income household.

Zillow says a housing shortage that deepened during the pandemic helped drive the cost of all homes out of reach for more homebuyers.. Starter home values have risen 54.1% since 2019.

Washington state also has the fourth highest average real estate prices in the country and Zillow has also reported typical prices top $1 million in 18 cities in western Washington as KPQ reported earlier SEE THE LIST

While Zillow did not reveal the list of cities where a "starter home" goes for a million dollars or more, it's a good bet that they are on the list of 18 cities where a typical home price exceeds $1 million.

In places like Hunt's Point, Medina and Yarrow Point, you might bump into former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll or former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the supermarket and you'll pay about $7.5 million for the average home in those upscale neighborhoods.

Wenatchee Real Estate Sales Price and Number of Sales Up

The Pacific Appraisal Associates Real Estate Snapshot report for June 2024 shows median real estate sales and the number of sales in Wenatchee are up 5% from last June.

The median price is 5% to $500,000. See the reports for Wenatchee, Cashmere and Leavenworth real estate markets