BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The residential real estate market continues to cool down here in Whatcom County.

According to Muljat Group co-owner Peter Ahn, the median price of a home sold in Whatcom County was $600,000 in the second quarter of this year.

That is a 7.6 percent drop from a year ago.

Sales numbers dropped 18.3 percent last year, with second quarter sales of 674 homes.

The drop was even more drastic in Bellingham.

Sales prices in the City of Subdued Excitement dropped 9.3 percent, down to a median of $712,000.

And unit sales in the city dropped a whopping 24 percent in the second quarter of this year.

But median sale prices actually increased by 1.4 percent in Lynden, where the median price is now $635,000.

The Birch Bay-Blaine area saw a home sales numbers increase to 125, up 19 percent.

Sales of commercial properties also saw a cooldown in Bellingham during the second quarter of this year.

However, Ryan Martin of Pacific Continental Realty says that we are doing significantly better than some of the state’s bigger metro regions.

Bellingham’s office vacancy rate went up by 0.6% percent from the first quarter to 5.6%, with Barkley Village and downtown seeing the bulk of spaces shuttering.

In comparison, Seattle’s commercial vacancy rate went up two percent in that same time period, now standing at 24 percent.

Vacancies in retail spaces also saw a very slight uptick in Bellingham.