Tri-City Area and Real Estate Blog

New laboratory building for PNNL in Richland have been built with green technology and materials, and that in turn has earned PNNL with a gold certification level from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The Biological Sciences Facility and the adjoining Computational Sciences Facility were opened last fall and house about 300 employees. The materials used in the construction consisted of approximately 78% of recycled and because of the design concept that goes beyond standard building codes, there was a 35% savings on energy. Both of the buildings use heat to warm offices generated from the computer servers in the Computational Sciences Facility that would be wasted otherwise. The gold level certification is the 2nd highest status for the LEED program, and very few laboratories have reached that award level throughout the nation. PNNL deservedly should be proud of their accomplishment. Kudos to those green thinking individuals for their hard work and determination.

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 annual KNDU Family Food Drive will take place on Saturday April 24th at the KNDU studio on Kennewick Avenue. 2nd Harvest Tri-Cities will be the recipient of all proceeds for this years food drive and the event will start at 8:00 am that morning, with food and cash donations accepted until 12:00 noon.  The drive last year collected an amount equivalant to over 600,000 pounds of food products, with many large Hanford companies donating $81,000 cash and over 20,000 pounds of food. 2nd Harvest is always in need of food and cash donations and partnering with KNDU allows them to get the word out to all of us in the Tri-Cities communties that there is a need here and they would be very appreciative of our support. For further information call 737-6725

With much credit going to the tax credit available to both first-time and previous homeowners and lots of affordable homes for sale, the housing market in the Tri-Cities is strong and on the increase.  With a 30 percent increase in March 2010 from the same month in 2009, sales are on the rise according to the Tri City Association of Realtors. The $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and the $6,500 tax credit for previous homeowners becoming buyers again has really stirred anyone sitting on the fence about purchasing a home. Homes sold in March averaged $195,000 which was an increase of $10,00 from February, which is quite a jump for housing in any market!

Nationwide Open Houses

The above video highlights the Nationwide Open Houses that were done here in the Tri-Cities last weekend and highlights Distinctive Properties, Inc., agent Jackie O’Connor giving information about housing prices, absorption rates and   highlighting a current Distinctive listing in Kennewick.

Home sales in the Tri Cities was strong during the last quarter of 2009, and January of 2010 started out on a very positive note with average home prices up from 2009. January 2009 showed an average of $184,025, and January 2010 showed $195,703 for average home prices. First-time homebuyers have contributed greatly to those numbers because of the $8,000 tax credit that was extended through April 30, 2010. The Tri-Cities housing market has been stronger than most other communities in the nation and we are hopeful that this trend will continue. The area’s foreclosure rate was 0.5 percent in comparison to the rest of the our nation where the rate is 2.1 percent. Steady home prices, interest rates and a stable economy here in the Tri-Cities makes for a bright outlook for 2010.