Inventory Surges While Sales Slow and Prices Hold Steady

 Housing supply continued to expand across the NWMLS service area in April, with active listings rising 28.4% year over year and increasing more than 23% from March as the spring market gained momentum. While inventory expanded, market activity remained mixed: closed sales declined 3.7% year over year, even as showings and keybox accesses increased from both March and April 2025. The median sales price remained unchanged from a year ago at $650,000, reflecting a market with more choices for buyers but continued affordability constraints.

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Listing for a flat fee of $385 saves Seller's thousands of dollars!

The advantage of the flat fee MLS listing is that the seller pays a listing service fee of $385 instead of a commission to the listing broker.  Offering compensation to a cooperating licensed broker representing the buyer (“Buyer Brokerage Firm”) (“Buyer Brokerage Compensation” aka "Buyer's Agent") is NOT required. A buyer may submit an offer that includes an amount that the buyer requests Seller to compensate the Buyer Brokerage Firm, but Seller is NOT obligated to accept the offer to pay compensation to the Buyer's Agent. There are no standard compensation rates and compensation is fully negotiable and not set by law. There is Zero compensation due at closing to List4FlatFee.com, LLC UNLESS Seller opts for the “Assistance with Offers” in the agreement and agrees to having Listing Broker represent the Seller with their offers from a Buyer Broker.

One big advantage for the seller in listing their property in the MLS is accessing those buyers who work exclusively through a real estate agent and don't look for the "for sale by owner".  Additionally, the MLS databases syndicate to public sites such as Realtor.com, Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, and hundreds of other local and national sites, which gives the seller much more exposure than just listing on a "FSBO" site or placing a sign in the front yard.

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Inventory Surges 28% as Mortgage Rates Dip Below 6% Ahead of Spring Market

 Published on: March 4, 2026

Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), the source for the most current, accurate market listing data in Washington state, today released its February 2026 Market Snapshot.

Market Recap

Inventory continued to expand across the region in February, providing buyers with significantly more options than a year ago. Active listings increased nearly 28% year over year to 13,341 properties, with 19 of 27 counties posting double-digit gains. Compared to January, inventory rose 7.8%, signaling continued seller participation heading into the spring market.

Closed sales totaled 4,139 transactions, down 3% from February 2025 but up 19.5% from January. The median sales price for residential homes and condominiums reached $620,000, down 1.6% from last year while rising 4.2% compared to the prior month.

“The good news is that mortgage interest rates dropped below 6% at the end of February, for the first time since September 2022,” said Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research. “The lower interest rates have not yet led to increased sales on a year-over-year basis, with the number of transactions declining 3% and prices down relative to February 2025. Listings continue to increase year over year, up 28%, as sellers decide to move on with their lives rather than wait for better market conditions. Compared to January, however, listings, sales, and prices were all up.”

Broker and buyer activity reflected steady engagement. Keybox activity increased 6.9% from both a year ago and the prior month, while property showings held relatively steady compared to January. Additionally, 76% of listings in the NWMLS database qualified for down payment assistance programs, expanding opportunities for buyers across the region.

February 2026 Key Takeaways

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August 2025 Statistics

 

August 2025 Statistics

Dog days of August cool sales but expand opportunities for buyers

KIRKLAND, Washington - September 4th, 2025 - In August, both active listings and home sales declined compared to July—by 2.7% and 7.7%, respectively—across the 27 counties in the NWMLS coverage area. This slowdown was largely driven by weaker activity in King and Snohomish counties. Compared to the same time last year, listings rose by 30.8%, but sales fell by 5.7%, indicating continued stagnant buyer demand. Median home prices remained flat month-over-month and increased just .8% year-over-year.

Visit the Monthly Market Snapshot page to view a variety of market insights, including: 

CLICK on Interactive County Charts

New listings continue to outpace sales as inventory builds

Published on: June 4, 2025 by  Northwest MLS, the source for the most current, accurate market listing data in Washington state, today released its Market Snapshot for May 2025. 

Market Recap 

The real estate market continued to experience significant growth in housing inventory across NWMLS’s coverage area. While buyer activity showed some signs of seasonal strength, it continued to lag behind the surge in new and active listings. Buyers may be slow to accepting what may be a new normal, with mortgage rates continuing to hover close to 7% and construction costs hampering new developments.

Still, May brought some encouraging signs for buyers. The number of active listings reached 18,310, marking the highest level of inventory since September 2018 when there were 19,256 homes on the market. In addition, prices showed signs of stabilizing: the median home price declined 1% year-over-year and edged up less than 1% from April, indicating a slowdown in price growth. This increase in supply gives buyers more options and may help ease some competitive pressure.

Consumer activity reflected this renewed interest. Keyboxes at listed properties were accessed 179,613 times, up 16.7% from April and 9.9% year-over-year. Scheduled showings also rose, up 13.9% from the previous month and 2.8% from May 2024, based on appointments made through NWMLS-provided software.

Among other tools available to NWMLS brokers is the Down Payment Resource (DPR) program, which connects buyers to down payment assistance options. There were 20,416 DPR-eligible properties on the market in May 2025, 70.30% of active listings, meaning buyers could potentially qualify for additional financial support on nearly three-quarters of the available inventory even as prices remain elevated in many markets.

Yet despite increased inventory, sales growth did not keep pace. “Relative to the previous month, the number of active listings increased by 3,851 (from 14,459 in April 2025), while the number of closed sales increased by only 580 (from 5,887 in April 2025),” said Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research (WCRER). “In other words, listings increased by nearly six and a half times the growth in the number of sales.”

Real Estate commissions - Changes and what they mean for you

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) agreed to new rules around real estate commissions as part of a lawsuit settlement in March. As of August 17, they’re actually rolling out — and consumers face a deluge of confusion and conflicting predictions. One narrative predicts a coming utopia for homebuyers: A price war will erupt, and commissions will plunge amid a new wave of competition among buyers’ agents. A competing narrative goes in the opposite direction: Under the new commission structure, buyers will realize they’re on the hook for thousands and decide not to use agents at all. NAR, meanwhile, has portrayed the changes as minor tweaks rather than a major shift. The opposing narratives underscore just how complex Realtor compensation has always been — and how much more complex it just got. Here’s a look at the new commission structure and what it could mean for both homebuyers and sellers. Read entire article by bankrate.com When you list your property with List4FlatFee.com, you will only be paying a flat listing fee of $285 and you may offer ZERO compensation to the Buyer's agent, allowing the Buyer to write it in the contract (offer). As a seller and principal in the contract, you may counter the offer and change the compensation to fit your goals (zero or whatever amount you are willing to pay their buyer's agent). You have complete control over your bottom line in the real estate transaction. Email me at stacie@list4flatfee.com or visit my website List4FlatFee.com for more information on my limited service MLS Listing service.

DOJ to court: Buyers need to set their agents’ compensation

A statement of interest filed late Thursday by the Department of Justice savages the proposed MLS PIN settlement, and calls out MLSs for limiting competition. Story by Dave Gallagher, Director, News Reporting

Calling the proposed MLS PIN settlement one that only makes "cosmetic changes," the U.S. Department of Justice provided a harsh response that could have implications for the other national buyer agent class action lawsuits.

In its statement of interest, filed in the Nosalek case to the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts Thursday evening, Feb. 15, the DOJ provided some suggestions of what should be in the MLS PIN settlement with the plaintiffs, who are homeowners in the area. One proposal was an injunction "that would prohibit sellers from making commission offers to buyer brokers at all," which would completely change how commissions work. Read Dave's full report...