Whatcom County home prices hit highest mark in years; WA remains third most expensive state

Median home sale prices in Whatcom County and Bellingham increased again in April, while Washington remains the third most-expensive state in the country for purchasing a home.

Whatcom housing market

Whatcom County’s median home sale price has fluctuated throughout 2023 and 2024. The median home sale price reached an extreme high of $702,500 on Nov. 20, the highest price recorded in 2023, according to Redfin Metro Area Data. Redfin, a residential real estate brokerage, uses home listings to generate metro area data.

In April, Whatcom’s median home sale price reached the highest price in the last three years, reaching $718,000 on April 15, according to RedFin data.

Whatcom County’s median sold price across all of April was $601,000, an 2.9% decrease compared with March, but a 7.3% increase compared with April 2023, according to Jason Lee, a local broker with Windermere Real Estate in Bellingham.

“Despite news headlines and mortgage rates, average local sale prices are up year over year. Plus 4% in Whatcom County and plus 5% in Bellingham,” Lee wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald.

As Whatcom County’s median home sale price was $718,000, according to Redfin, San Juan County had the highest median home sale price in the state at $1,060,000, and Columbia County had the lowest at $234,000.

Whatcom County had the fourth-highest median home sale price in the state for April.

“Inventory continues to rise slowly and steadily. This week Whatcom County inventory climbed above 500 available homes, a number not seen since November of 2023,” Lee wrote.

Bellingham’s housing market

The median price of homes sold in March in Bellingham was $629,556, a 1.1% increase compared to March, according to data from Rocket Homes.

In April, Bellingham’s median asking price was $660,000, according to Lee of Windermere Real Estate. That’s a 7% decrease compared with March and a 10.2% increase compared with April of last year, Lee said.

Washington housing market

Washington’s median home sale price in April was $640,000, an increase of over $22,000 compared to March’s median price of $617,700.

Washington is the third-most expensive state in which to purchase a home, according to April 2024 data, following California with a median home value price of $816,800 and Hawaii at $820,700. This is the second month in a row that Washington has had the third-highest home sale prices in the country.