This Is The Cheapest City To Buy A Home In Washington

By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. - Seattle

October 2, 2023

The first two years of the coronavirus pandemic had a profound impact on the U.S. housing market as Americans fled expensive, high-population areas to mid-sized cities or adjoining suburbs in lower-cost parts of the country. (See how the cost of housing has skyrocketed in these major U.S. cities.)

Low mortgage rates and high demand for homes in many markets, coupled with a slowdown in new home construction due to pandemic-related disruptions in the labor force and supply chains, often led to intense bidding wars over available homes among prospective buyers.

Though prices have slowed considerably in many markets in 2023 thanks to inflation and higher mortgage rates, they remain elevated and out of reach for the typical household. Still, across the country, there are cities where housing is affordable to a broader range of budgets — at least relative to the state’s broader housing market.

Of the 20 cities in Washington with available data from real estate market website Realtor.com, Moses Lake is the least expensive place for homebuyers. As of April 2023, the median list price in the city was $383,700, compared to the median list price of $649,000 across the state as a whole.

All metro area and state level listing price data in this story is from Realtor.com, a real estate market website, and is for April 2023.

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This story was originally published by 24/7 Wall St., a news organization that produces real-time business commentary and data-driven reporting for state and local markets across the country.