Market Update — February 2026
We firmly believe timely and relevant data is key to making good decisions. To this end, we are committed to providing our community and clients with actionable data and insights about the local real estate market.
Local real estate market
With the data from January 2026 in, here’s an overview of the key aspects of the local real estate market. The real estate data below is collected from Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS).
Median price: The chart below shows the latest median sales prices of homes over the past 5 years in the Greater Seattle area over the past five years:
Homes sold: 3.465 homes were sold in January 2026 decreasing 7% YOY. The median price of $595,000 which represents a decrease of 2.8% YOY. This total sale volume translates to a dollar value of about $2.6B.
New construction: 543 new construction homes were sold in January 2026. The median sale price of new construction homes was $749,000.
Months of inventory: Given the current quantity of supply, it’ll take 3.57 months for every listed home to sell. To put this number in perspective, note that the months of inventory for a balanced market is considered to be 4 to 6 months. The counties with the lowest months of inventory in January 2026 were Kitsap (2.4), Pierce (2.82), Snohomish (2.84), and Skagit (3.17). This data point indicates the persistent shortage of supply relative to demand in the area.
New listings: 6,882 new listings were added to the NWMLS database in January 2026 representing a YOY increase of 2.8%.
Mortgage rates: The Freddie Mac rate has shown no significant monthly change.
Primary Mortgage Market Survey — Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates over the past 5 years (Source: Freddie Mac)
Broader U.S. economy
Consumer Spending and Unemployment Update: While strong retail sales in November signaled a solid start to the holiday shopping season, December’s results fell short. Sales were flat month over month, missing the expected 0.4% increase, and eight of the thirteen retail categories recorded declines.
Existing Home Sales Ease to Start 2026: After a nice boost in December, existing home sales fell 8.4% month over month in January, according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Sales were also down 4.4% compared to a year ago. Housing inventory dipped 0.8% from December to 1.22 million homes but remained 3.4% higher than this time last year.
Headline Jobs Number Strong, But the Details Matter: January’s Jobs Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed 130,000 jobs added, more than double the 55,000 expected. The unemployment rate edged down from 4.4% to 4.3%. At first glance, that looks like a solid report. But conflicting labor data, revisions, and seasonal adjustments suggest the underlying trend may be softer than it appears.
