Seattle-area spring housing market arrives with mixed signals

Seattle’s typically boisterous spring housing market turned up more modest this year.

Sales were sluggish and homes lingered on the market last month as some buyers got cold feet, spooked by economic volatility and high mortgage rates. Even so, home prices continued to climb and, in some corners of the market, bidding wars broke out. 

King County’s median single-family home price hit a new high in April, reaching $1.03 million, up 5% from a year earlier. The last time the monthly median surpassed $1 million was last May at $1.01 million. The median Seattle home also sold for about $1 million, up 3% and another indication that a million-dollar single-family home has become the norm here. 

Elsewhere, median single-family homes sold for about $565,000 in Pierce County, $800,000 in Snohomish County and $585,000 in Kitsap County, according to data the Northwest Multiple Listing Service released Tuesday. Compared to a year ago, prices were flat in Pierce and Snohomish counties and up 6% in Kitsap County.

Spring usually marks the beginning of the busiest season for buying and selling homes and indeed, new home listings picked up in April. But the volume of pending sales was down across the region from the same time a year earlier, according to the listing service data.

“Overall, this spring seems a little bit slower than I would have thought,” said Seattle Redfin agent David Palmer.

Some homes are sitting longer without a buyer, leaving sellers eager to make a deal or offer concessions like cash to help buyers secure lower mortgage rates. Still, some agents say that trend belies the fact that buyers are also facing tough competition for other homes.

Among home shoppers, some are nervous about signing on for a high monthly payment while others are eager to move after putting off their search in recent years. Despite high mortgage rates, buyers may be willing to pay extra for the right home. Mortgage rates have hovered just below 7% since January. 

“We have a very mixed market right now,” said Seattle RE/MAX agent Reba Haas.  

The dip in sales could reflect buyers’ hesitance to make big moves as the broader economy remains uncertain. Sales had climbed steadily from January through March before dipping in April, when tariffs dominated the headlines.

“The No. 1 word I can say is tariff,” Haas said. “All that stuff hit in April and made a bunch of people go, ‘Whoa.’” 

Stock market volatility also looms large. Palmer recently worked with a client planning to tap into her stock options to fund her down payment. As the market plunged last month, she backed out of plans to buy a Bellevue condo and paused her search. 

Flagging demand could turn around before the spring market is over.

Haas said activity picked up a bit in early May as buyers she’s working with are “just waiting for the right property or to not be caught in a bidding war or to finally win a bidding war.”

Demand is weaker in the condo market 

Shoppers hesitate to buy condos in multifamily buildings because of fears about affording high HOA dues or simply because they prefer a single-family home, agents say. Other condos developed as accessory dwelling units look more like small single-family homes. Those listings typically see higher demand and fetch higher prices.

The median King County condo price, which includes both types, held at nearly $580,000 in April, flat from a year earlier.

While the average Seattle-area single-family home sold for about 2% more than its list price in March, the average condo sold for about 1% below its list price, according to the latest available data from Redfin. 

In nearly every corner, the market remains tough for buyers, particularly those on tight budgets. 

At current demand, it would take nearly two months to sell through all the single-family homes for sale in King County, according to a measure known as months of inventory. That’s far better than the hottest moments of the pandemic, but a truly balanced market — favoring neither sellers nor buyers — would have four to six months of inventory.  

Prices will stay elevated as long as inventory remains limited, Palmer said. “We still have a housing crisis here.”