As we move further into 2026, we thought it would be helpful to look back at how the Seattle-area real estate market changed over the past year.
No one can predict future real estate trends with complete accuracy. But hindsight has a way of helping us prepare for the future and make more informed decisions. With that in mind, here is our year in review for the Seattle housing market in 2025.
This review looks back at 2025 market trends while also referencing more recent data points from early 2026 for context. When reading the figures below, it helps to distinguish between retrospective statements about what happened during 2025 and later snapshots that show where the market stood after that period.
Because these time references serve different purposes, they should be interpreted as complementary rather than contradictory. Year-in-review commentary summarizes the prior year, while early-2026 data provides a more current benchmark for how those trends carried forward.
Overall, the real estate market in and around Seattle remains highly competitive at the start of 2025. While home prices have flatlined over the past year or so, the number of homes on the market declined during that time. These inventory declines have increased competition among home buyers, a trend likely to continue in 2026.
Here are some noteworthy Seattle housing market trends that occurred during 2025:
Home prices across the Seattle metro area have increased over the past year.
Price movement can appear mixed when broad summary statements are compared with later data points from different measurement periods and geographies. In practice, a market can experience a pause, flattening, or modest gains depending on whether the comparison is local or regional and whether it reflects a shorter or longer window of time.
For that reason, the pricing references in this review should be read as describing a market that was not moving in a perfectly uniform way across all areas and timeframes. Apparent differences in the pricing narrative often reflect differences in scope and comparison period rather than a direct conflict.
This article references Seattle, King County, and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area in different sections. Those are related but distinct market scopes, so statistics from one area should not be treated as interchangeable with statistics from another.
City-level, county-level, and metro-level housing data can move differently at the same time. As a result, changes in prices, inventory, and sales pace may vary depending on which geography is being discussed in a given section.
According to more recent housing market data, the median sale price in Seattle was $865,000 in March 2026. Zillow also showed an average home value of $847,975 for Seattle in February 2026. For the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area, Zillow reported an average home value of $767,553 in February 2026.
Over the past 18 months, higher home prices and mortgage rates decreased demand among home buyers. That same trend occurred in nearly every city across the United States in 2025.
This “pause” in home-price appreciation was actually a positive trend from a buyer’s perspective. Looking forward, Zillow predicts that the median price point for the Seattle area will likely rise modestly over the next year or so. Specifically, that forecast covered a 12-month period ending in early 2026.
Like many cities and metro areas nationwide, the Seattle-area housing market lost inventory during 2025. As a result, fewer homes are on the market than at the start of the year.
According to more recent housing market data, active listings in King County were up 34.86% year-over-year in March 2026.
Inventory descriptions can also look inconsistent when one statement summarizes conditions over the course of 2025 while another cites a year-over-year comparison from a later date. A decline from the start of a year and an increase versus the same month a year earlier can both be true if they use different comparison points.
In other words, inventory trend language depends heavily on the baseline being used. Sequential changes, year-over-year changes, and differences between local market areas can each produce a different reading of supply conditions without necessarily conflicting.
Right now, Seattle proper had about a 2.70-month supply of homes for sale, while King County had about a 2.66-month supply in March 2026.
Homeowners who are already locked in at a mortgage rate that’s much lower than today’s rate have also been hesitant to sell. They may be concerned about losing their lower rate in exchange for a much higher rate. This hesitancy to list their homes has also contributed to tight inventory, with free listings on the market as a result.
Home buyers planning to purchase in 2026 should do everything possible to increase their chances of success. We covered some of those best practices in a previous article. The two most important strategies are expanding your search zone as much as possible and making a strong offer the first time.
At the start of 2025, very few homes in the Seattle area were selling above the asking price. That’s because rising mortgage rates cooled the market during the second half of the year.
But those same higher mortgage rates made a lot of homeowners reluctant to give up their lower rates by selling their homes, as already mentioned. So, we also saw a drop in Seattle home inventory during that timeframe.
The result? Increased buyer competition has led to more and more offers above the list price. More recently, Seattle homes were selling for about 1% above the list price, with a sale-to-list ratio of 101% in April 2026. Single-family resale homes were also selling at 102.0% of list price in April 2026.
The overall pace of home sales also increased during 2025 and for the same reasons stated above. Tighter inventory conditions have caused buyers to make stronger offers while decreasing the time it takes to sell a home. It’s basically a more moderate version of what we saw the year before.
One of the most notable changes within the Seattle real estate market during 2025 was the number of “days on market (DOM).” This metric shows how quickly homes sell, based on the typical time between the initial listing and the purchase contract.
A high average DOM points to a weak housing market in favor of buyers. Listings become stale, and home prices may dip as sellers try to sell their homes. Conversely, a low average DOM indicates a strong real estate market favoring sellers. In this scenario, homes sell much faster, giving sellers more negotiating power and the ability to sell at a higher price.
In January 2025, homes listed for sale across the Seattle area real estate market spent a median of 45 days on the market before going under contract. More recent reports showed a median DOM of 13 days in Seattle in March 2026, while average DOM reached 26 days in March 2026.
This shows the acceleration of the Seattle housing market in 2025, with a faster pace of home sales.
The tighter inventory conditions mentioned earlier have a lot to do with this. Homes tend to sell faster when supply levels decline. That’s because more buyers are competing for fewer properties, creating a higher level of competition.
Here’s some encouraging news for Seattle-area home buyers. While Seattle mortgage rates rose considerably over the past couple of years, they’ve trended downward since their recent peak.
As of late April 2026, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage loan was around 6.23%, according to Freddie Mac. Other rate trackers showed averages of 6.40% and 6.38% on April 28, 2026.
We could wrap up 2025 with slightly higher mortgage rates than at the start of this year. As for next year, several analysts have predicted a continued but gradual decline in mortgage rates. That would help spur the Seattle real estate market in 2026 by bringing more buyers into the market and overcoming some of the hesitancy among sellers.
As you can see, the Seattle housing market in 2025 underwent many changes. And these developments will affect home buyers and sellers next year as well. It will be interesting to see what will happen with the Seattle housing market in 2026. As always, we will continue to monitor housing market trends in the area and report them right here on our blog!
If you’re looking to buy in Seattle, WA, we can help. At Sammamish Mortgage, we offer many mortgage programs and products with flexible qualification criteria, including our Diamond Homebuyer Program, Cash Buyer Program, and Bridge Loans. We serve clients across Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Oregon, and California. Visit our website to get an instant rate quote or to use our online mortgage calculator. Please reach out to us if you are ready to get pre-approved for a mortgage.
Seattle-area home prices increased over the past year, with recent data showing higher median sale prices and average home values across the city and metro area.
Yes. The market remains competitive because limited housing supply continues to put buyers in competition for available homes.
Inventory was described as tight during 2025, which contributed to stronger competition among buyers even though more recent county-level data showed active listings up year over year.
A low months’ supply usually means there are not enough homes available to fully meet buyer demand, which can lead to faster sales and stronger offers.
Yes. Recent market data showed Seattle homes selling slightly above list price, reflecting continued buyer competition.
Many owners are reluctant to sell because they already have mortgage rates that are lower than current market rates and do not want to give them up.
Homes have been selling faster than before, with days on market dropping significantly compared to earlier periods.
A lower days-on-market figure usually signals a stronger seller-leaning market where homes attract offers more quickly.
Higher mortgage rates reduced some buyer demand, but relatively stable and slightly improving rate trends have helped support ongoing market activity.
Buyers can improve their chances by widening their search area, staying financially prepared, and submitting a strong offer when they find a suitable property.
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