What is Going on with Western Washington Real Estate Inventory?
In March of 2025, King County added over 3,500 new residential listings to the market, a jump of over 20% from the same time last year. Edmonds itself added almost 20 new listings in March of 2025, compared to the same time the prior year, an increase of almost 36%. Meanwhile, average listing prices have increased in King and Snohomish County as well, despite the influx of inventory. While March has seen a noticeable and sizable increase in listings, the growth in inventory reflects a larger trend that has occurred throughout 2025. For example, new listings increased in Seattle by over 21% in February of 2025 compared to the prior year.
Some have expressed concern that this may be the prelude to a housing crash where sellers are seeking to offload their inventory as quickly as possible because of perceived economic volatility. While it would be perhaps foolhardy for me to try and predict what will happen to the Washington State housing market, as there are many factors that could make an impact, many of which are not entirely foreseeable, the dramatic increase in listings, on its own, does not warrant concern for several reasons.
First, the increased listings have not coincided with a decrease in demand. For example, even though the average home price has climbed, over 55% of listings in Seattle went pending in the first thirty days, with a total average of 29 days on the market. While it is true that in some areas, listings stayed on the market a little longer than the same time in 2024, such as in Edmonds, where the average days on market in March of 2025 jumped an additional six days over the average a year earlier, the market overall does not appear to be slowing down. Demand remains high even with the increased inventory and prices in the most popular regions of King County and Snohomish County.
Second, it is estimated that there is approximately 1.5 to 2 months of inventory on the market currently. Considering that inventory will often be double or triple that amount in “normal” markets, the increased in inventory could be something of a course correction compared to several months prior, as opposed to a real estate panic with sellers seeking to offload inventory. In other words, rather than signifying issues with the housing market, it may simply be that the housing market is rebalancing. This makes additional sense when factoring in that interest rates raised dramatically in 2024 but have not returned to previous levels since then. Buyers and sellers may finally have started adjusting this new normal, shifting from the hesitation to buy and sell in 2024, to accepting that rates will not revert back, and they should just proceed with their housing plans as a result.
Ultimately, trends in the housing market come with unexpected twists and turns, but the current increase in inventory, alone, does not appear to warrant cause for alarm. With competitive bidding seemingly on the rise again, the time may be ripe to purchase and sell real estate. If you run into any issues in the purchase or sale of your real estate, or need assistance with any real estate issues, the attorneys at Beresford Booth remain available to assist you.
To learn more about Western Washington’s Real Estate Inventory, please contact Beresford Booth at info@beresfordlaw.com or by phone at (425) 776-4100.
