Chelan & Douglas Counties:
Earlier today the NAR reported that on a seasonally adjusted basis, home sales increased 2.2% in December from the previous month.
Locally, Chelan and Douglas counties sold the same number of homes as November, with a 14.6% decrease in dollar volume.
The NAR also reported that U.S. home sales in 2024 fell to their lowest in nearly 30 years, with 4.06 million homes sold, a 0.7% drop from 2023. High mortgage rates, rising prices, and limited inventory kept buyers out of the market. Additionally, the NAR reported that sales increased 9.3% in December compared to the same month previous year, reaching a 4.24 million annual pace. This is the third consecutive monthly gain in sales and exceeds the 4.2 million pace expected by analysts polled by FactSet.
Local sales increased by 40% in December compared to last year, both in terms of unit volume and dollar volume.
Year to date, the market in Chelan-Douglas counties has unquestionably been phenomenal. The higher the price range, the larger the rise in unit and dollar volume. Financed transactions increased in dollar amount by 29.5% over 2023. There were 165 single-family home sales with prices over $1,000,000. The high end of the market had an excellent year.
The following is a summary of Chelan-Douglas’ 2024 sales compared to 2023 and 2022. It is worth noting that every month in 2024 exceeded the same month in the previous year. Over a four-month period, sales exceeded $100,000,000.
Between the “Easy-Money-Post-Covid” era and the rise in interest rates, it has been difficult to pin down a definite trend in price per square foot average, but we are now seeing consistent increases quarter-over- quarter and year- over-year.
Exploring the Dynamic Wenatchee Market: From Entiat to Malaga, Rock Island to Orondo and West to Cashmere
As winter set in, the Wenatchee Market continued to decline, with dollar volume down 11.22% and unit volume down 4.7%.
Nonetheless, the Wenatchee market saw a 24% increase in dollar volume and a 30.7% increase in transaction volume compared to December 2023. The amount financed increased by $11M.
With a 23% increase in transaction volume and a 32.6% increase in dollar volume, the Wenatchee Market had an excellent year. The amount of financed transactions increased by $158 million over 2023.
The Chelan Market: Encompassing Manson and Stehekin
Chelan’s December sales were $4 million higher than 2023, with a 42% increase in transaction volume and an almost double increase in dollar volume at 95.3%.
Chelan also had a successful year, with $65 million in sales, driven by a 92% rise in financing volume. There were 62 transactions that exceeded $1 million.
Exploring the Upper Valley Market: Insights from Dryden to Stevens Pass, Including Leavenworth, Lake Wenatchee and Plain
The Upper Valley had a great December, with transaction and dollar volume up more than 70% over 2023.
The Upper Valley’s strong December pushed 2024 to outperform 2023 by two sales, or 1.1% in unit volume and 16% in dollar volume. There were 45 sales above $1 million.
Have an incredible 2025!
