Richland Real Estate Blog

I’m not the real estate agent in the family, so my co-author may want to add something in the comments here … but it’s no secret that the Tri-Cities real estate market has slowed down in recent months. Luckily, we never had the huge run up that other areas have had, so our slowdown isn’t nearly as bad as what people are experiencing elsewhere.

That said, the City of Richland has published some stats on residential and commercial real estate development in the city, and the numbers paint a picture of what’s going on compared to 2007.

Richland Commercial Construction

The city says commercial construction stayed strong in October. The City of Richland issued permits for five new commercial structures, with a combined value of $1.87 million. How are things looking for year-to-date numbers?

January-October, 2008: 68 commercial permits issued, $91.76 million total value
January-October, 2007: 75 commercial permits, $28.29 million total value

So, the number of permits is down about 9% so far this year. But the value of those permits has increased by 224%.

Richland Residential Construction

October housing starts in Richland fell to their lowest number since 2000.

October 2008: 13 permits for single-family houses
October 2007: 27 permits for single-family houses

That’s a 52% drop from October 2007. Prior to this year, the most recent October low was 16 permits, recorded in 2004.

January-October, 2008: 209 new housing permits
January-October, 2007: 261 new housing permits

For the year-to-date, that’s a 20% drop in housing starts. The value of home starts to date this year totals $56.51 million, about $9.5 million less than a year ago.

(Data courtesy City of Richland.)

Thank you for reading this article on the Richland Real Estate Blog. If you arrived here looking for specific real estate information, or would like to speak with a friendly, fun, professional, and low-pressure real estate agent, please contact Cari via her web site or call her directly at 509 – 430 – 5342 and she’ll be glad to help. Thanks again for visiting!