Jasmine Widmer, a New York City immigration attorney, and her husband Raul Garcia, a doctor, have lived and traveled all over the world. But last year, the couple sold their home in Queens and moved to Yakima, Washington, a farming town with a population of 72,000, located 150 miles east of Seattle.
The reason for the move was Garcia’s new job as associate dean of the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, the first new medical school to be built in the state in 60 years.
Ten months later, the couple, who have a 3-year-old son, said the stimulating new job is only one of the advantages of living in Yakima. “We’ve been quite impressed with the lifestyle,” said Widmer. “There is a large educated demographic, and the vista is exquisite — snow-capped mountains above and all this vegetation below.”
Famous for its orchards, Yakima is drawing attention for its livability — and a housing market that is bucking national trends. Nationwide, home prices fell 7.7 percent on average compared to a year ago, but not in Yakima. In June 2008, the average housing price was $191,716 — a jump of 7 percent compared to the year before. (The median housing price is $167,000.) Several factors are helping sustain housing prices, including the new medical school, a solid agricultural economy and a burgeoning second home and retirement market.
The area’s slow and steady price appreciation over the past decade — a few percent a year — has also helped insulate Yakima from the nationwide housing bubble.
“Our community didn’t have huge run-ups in price, so we’re not falling on our face,” said Chris Pauling, a broker with Prudential Northwest Realty.
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City planners are currently processing about 500 building permits — “considerably higher” than the number processed a few years ago, according to Bill Cook, director of economic development for the City of Yakima. Fueling the boom are eight new housing developments planned or under construction, among them the $100 million Vineyards project, which will include retail shops and tennis courts and 582 condos and homes, as well as a 100-room boutique hotel, golf course, pro shop, restaurant, athletic center, spa and concert amphitheater. Buyers will be able to purchase lots for $250,000 to $700,000.
Another project, the Apple Tree Resort, will feature 650 units along golf course greens selling for $500,000 to $750,000. So far about 90 of the first 100 units have sold, according to project manager Glen Durall. Over 80 percent have sold to out-of-town buyers, he said.
Durall acknowledged that inventory in Yakima is increasing and houses are staying on the market for a longer period of time. “But values are not decreasing,” he said. “The economy is really moving here.”
Ten years ago, Yakima’s unemployment rate was in the double digits, said David McFadden, president of the Yakima County Development Association. “Today it’s at 6 percent and free-falling,” he said. He credits the region’s healthy employment growth to the fruit industry. Yakima is the nation’s No. 1 producer of apples, pears and cherries. “When those commodities are doing well, it trickles down to Main Street, into health care, construction and retail,” McFadden said.
Indeed, signs of diversification are everywhere. Framed by the Cascade Mountains, Yakima’s 50 vineyards beckon wine aficionados; three new hotels have opened in the past year, and the city is in the third phase of a downtown revitalization plan that has invested $7 million in streetscape and lighting improvements. The initiative has helped attract about 30 mostly locally owned businesses to the central core, including the Cascade Wine Shop, Ummelina Spa and the Shopkeeper Art Gallery.
Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, which is set to debut this fall, “opens the door to new and different opportunities for us as a city,” said McFadden. So far, the campus has hired about 60 faculty and staff, and many of the faculty will be doing biomedical research with commercial impacts, McFadden said.
Yakima offers other, more basic, amenities — 300 days of sunshine, and “no tornadoes, hurricanes or earthquakes,” said Cook. Downhill skiing at White Pass is less than 40 minutes away, and the Yakima River is home to healthy salmon runs. “How many places can you fish for salmon downtown?” Cook asks.
“Yakima isn’t New York City, ” said Widmer, who paid $660,000 for a 3,800-square-foot house on Yakima’s Scenic Drive, 10 minutes from downtown. “But it’s an absolutely beautiful spot.”