Tri-City Area and Real Estate Blog

Once again the Tri-Cities has resisted the downward trend of property values across the nation, and finds itself in contrast with rising property valuations. Franklin County has been the fastest growing county in the state for the last two years and also one of the fastest growing in the nation. Officials in Franklin County expect values to continue to rise at an average of 3-4 percent as they prepare to mail out revaluation notices within the next month. Benton County anticipates remaining at the current level.

Many other communities within our state are facing devaluation at a significant rate which in turn decreases their tax base. For many its been decades since they’ve lost ground in property valuations. According to a recent market survey in the Tri-Cities, the first quarter of 2010 shows that the median residential resale price encompassing the bicounty area is $176,600, thus being an almost 6 percent increase over the entire year of 2008.

Franklin County continues to see it’s main increase in values due to the development of West Pasco and some large farms. Meanwhile, there are some pockets of decrease in the county, mostly around the Connell area because of unspecified market conditions there.

Much of the success of the Tri-Cities’ ability to remain strong, is due to the stimulus money that came into the Hanford cleanup projects, however, many individuals and organizations have worked diligently to diversify our community so that not all economic strength comes from strictly the Hanford area, but instead comes from growth in agricultural, food processing, and tourism dollars. They have been very successful in their endeavors which in turn have created the economic stability that the Tri-Cities and surrounding communities enjoy today.

Job growth in the Tri-Cities continues to increase on a monthly basis, with 96,800 nonfarm jobs, which is a 3.9 percent increase over the same month in 2009.  The fields of manufacturing, professional and business services, retail trade and the government sector saw the most growth during that same period. The cushion for the Tri-Cities that negated some of the effects felt in other parts of the country was federal stimulus money, however, the Tri-Cities will still need to continue it’s drive towards diversification in order to stabilize the economy and create more jobs.

Unemployment in the Tri-Cities dropped marginally from 9.0 percent in February to 8.2 percent last month. Many new workers have been drawn to the Tri-Cities because of  strong job growth and relative stability in the economy.

The Tri-Cities is poised for economic takeoff as ARRA funds start flowing through the area faster than the Columbia River.

Almost $2 billion is earmarked for the Hanford site, with millions more being pumped into other areas, including transportatiopn and technology projects.

“I’m pleased that our congressional delegation is bringing this amount of money to the Tri-City area. “

By the Herald staff

More homebuyers in the Tri-Cities will be eligible for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration thanks to a provision in the stimulus package that temporarily raises loan limits, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development accounted Tuesday.

In the Tri-Cities and Benton and Franklin counties, the limit for a single-family house is now $275,000.

For a duplex, the limit is $352,050.

On a three-unit house, the limit is $425,550 and on a four-unit house it’s $528,850.

The limits previously were $271,050, $347,000, $419,400 and $521,250, respectively, and were established as the permanent limits at the beginning of 2009.

The most recent change in limits applies to all FHA-insured mortgage loans written between now and Dec. 31st.

New permanent limits on the maximum mortgage amount insured by the Federal Housing Administration will take effect Thursday.

In the Tri-Cities and many other markets in Washington, the limit on a one-family home will increase 35.4 percent from $200,160 to $271,050, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Higher-cost markets such as Seattle will have higher limits.

This is the first time since January 2007 that permanent FHA limits have been raised nationwide, according to HUD. The new limits replace the temporary ones that went into effect with the economic stimulus act passed earlier in 2008.

Through the first 11 months of 2008, FHA insured 27,855 mortgage in the state with a value of nearly $6.4 billion. It’s the third best year since FHA’s creation in the 1930′s, HUD said.