For most of 2026, Clark County’s housing market told a consistent story: more listings, more pending sales, more closings than the year before. That story changed in July.

For the first time all year, closed sales in Clark County fell below where they were a year ago — and the price data is starting to show the effects. Here’s what happened, and where it’s showing up most clearly on the ground.

The county-wide shift

Last month, closed residential sales in Clark County came in at 581 essentially flat with July 2025’s 584. That may not sound dramatic on its own, but it’s the first negative YoY reading of 2026 after five straight months of solid growth:

Month	Closed Sales	vs. 2025
February	465	+11.0%
March	513	+15.8%
April	547	+2.2%
May	577	+8.1%
June	670	+15.7%
July	581	-0.5%

What’s perhaps more noteworthy is that prices are starting to follow. The county’s average sale price fell for a second straight month in July (-2.0% month-over-month, after -1.2% in June), pulling back from its May peak of $657,400 to $636,100.

Where it’s showing up most clearly: Washougal and Battle Ground

Washougal is the clearest case in the entire region. Closed sales fell 24.3% year-over-year in July (28 vs. 37 a year ago), and unlike most areas, Washougal’s year-to-date closed sales are also down (-13.8%) — one of the only communities running behind last year’s pace on a cumulative basis. That volume pullback has come with real price softening: the area’s rolling 12-month average sale price is down 5.5% year-over-year, among the largest declines of any area in SW Washington.

Battle Ground tells a similar story. Closed sales dipped 5.9% year-over-year in July (48 vs. 51), and pending sales — the leading indicator — collapsed 38.3% year-over-year, by far the sharpest pending-sales reversal of any area this year. Active inve.ntory jumped from 184 to 212 listings in a single month, the largest one-month build of 2026. July’s single-month average price fell 20.4% from a year ago

The exception worth watching: Camas

Not every community is cooling the same way. Camas actually posted a 40% year-over-year jump in closed sales in July, with pending sales up double digits — but its rolling average price is still down 3.3% year-over-year. That’s a different flavor of softening: instead of fewer buyers, it looks like more moderately-priced inventory is pulling the average down even as transaction volume grows. Worth keeping an eye on whether that pattern shows up elsewhere as more listings come to market.

The takeaway

July marks a genuine inflection point for Southwest Washington. After a spring and early summer of accelerating sales, closed transactions turned negative year-over-year at the county level for the first time in 2026, pending sales confirmed a second consecutive down month, and prices — especially at the upper end — are starting to give back some of the year’s gains. Washougal and Battle Ground are the two submarkets making that shift most visible right now, while Camas is a reminder that not every area is cooling for the same reason.

Data source: RMLS Market Action Reports for Southwest Washington, Clark and Cowlitz Counties, January–July 2026, compared against July 2025.