SPOKANE, Wash. — Real estate agents are predicting Spokane’s housing market will improve as coronavirus restrictions and stay-home orders are lifted.
Restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic created a decline in the housing market, with 50 percent fewer buyers and sellers in April 202 compared to April 2019, according to Tom Clark.
“It’s just a little bit of a compounding problem,” said Clark, the president of the Spokane Realtors’ Association.
He said he’s seen the market recover from periods like 9/11 and the 2008 recession.
“Spokane will stand out,” he said.
He said Spokane is a “big, small city,” attracting buyers who can’t afford to purchase homes in Seattle, but who also want to experience shopping at a mall and having a downtown core.
“If I lived in Los Angeles and I’m looking at getting back in that traffic in about two months, I might think about moving someplace like Spokane and working remotely out of my house,” Clark said.
He said even with Gov. Inslee’s Stay-Home, Stay-Healthy order in place, there hasn’t been a complete freeze.
“We still have a lot more people moving in than we do moving out,” Clark said.
Gov. Inslee signed an order Friday allowing some construction to resume across the state.
Clark said this is a positive sign, especially for Spokane.
“I believe on the east side of the state, we’re in a much better situation from a social distancing standpoint, since there is a much less dense population,” he said.
He said putting an estimate on how long it will take for the market to recover would be difficult, but that “it will bounce back.”
