Whatcom County home prices up 14% compared to last year; May’s median price was $673,000

Median home sale prices in Whatcom County and Bellingham increased again in May, 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.

Last month, the median home sale price was $598,500 on May 6 before jumping to $681,000 on May 20.

Whatcom County’s median sold price across all of May was $609,000, a 1% increase compared with April, and a 12.8% increase compared with May 2023, according to Jason Lee, a local broker with Windermere Real Estate in Bellingham.

“Whatcom County inventory climbed above 600 available homes in May, a number not seen since October 2023,” Lee wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald.

As Whatcom County’s median home sale price was $607,500 in May according to Redfin, King County had the highest median home sale price in the state at $899,000, and Adams County had the lowest at $106,000.

Whatcom County had the eighth-highest median home sale price in the state for May.

Bellingham’s housing market

The median price of homes sold in May in Bellingham was $633,946, a 3.2% increase compared to May 2023, according to data from Rocket Homes.

In May, Bellingham’s median asking price was $673,000, according to Lee of Windermere Real Estate. That’s a 1.6% decrease compared with April and a 6.3% increase compared with May of last year, Lee said.

“Compared to May 2023, average sold prices in May 2024 were up about 14% in both Whatcom County and Bellingham,” Lee said.

Washington housing market

Washington’s median home sale price in May was $658,500, an increase of over $18,000 compared to April’s median price of $640,000.

Washington is the third-most expensive state in which to purchase a home, according to May 2024 data, following California with a median home value price of $860,500 and Hawaii at $754,700. This is the third month in a row that Washington has had the third-highest home sale prices in the country.