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.”