Housing sales gain 21% over year ago

Home sales for the second quarter in Whitman County totaled 400, an increase of 14.3 percent from the previous quarter and 21.2 percent from the same quarter a year ago, according to the state report from the Runstad Center of Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington. A total of 86 building permits were issued for a 616.7 percent increase over a year ago. The building permits include apartment house units, and the steep increase for the county reflects the apartment complex construction in Pullman.

Median price of homes in the county increased from $212,900, up 10.1 percent from the median a year ago.

Statewide, the number of home sales increased 5.4 percent over the previous quarter and 21 percent to the same quarter last year. Total sales in the state were 93,280.