Increasing inventory puts ‘downward pressure’ on area home prices

Across the Northwest MLS, closed home sales came in 4% below last October’s total. Pending sales, which give some signal about next month’s sales, were down 6% from the same time last year.

Active Listings

There was a 27% increase in total number of properties listed for sale year-over-year, with 18,791 active listings on the market at the end of October 2025, compared to 14,795 at the end of October 2024. When compared to the previous month, active inventory decreased by 1,261 listings (-6.3%), down from 20,052 in September 2025.

The number of homes for sale year-over-year increased in all of NWMLS’s coverage area, with 24 out of 27 counties seeing a double-digit year-over-year increase. The six counties with highest year-over-year increases in active inventory for sale were Thurston (+49%), Snohomish (+42.2%), Jefferson (+37.4%), Clallam (+37.2%), Ferry (+35.7%), and Okanogan (+34%).

New listings were 4% higher than last year. Altogether, October 2025 ended with 29% more active listings than last October. That did continue a slowdown in inventory growth, but it still left buyers with more options than they had last year or the year before at this time.

As a result, the higher inventory levels are starting to put some downward pressure on prices, which dipped 2% to a median of $660,000 for a residential home sale that closed in October.

New Listings

NWMLS brokers added 7,991 new listings to the database in October 2025, a year-over-year increase of 3.4% compared to October 2024 (7,726). When compared to the previous month (September 2025), new listings decreased by 13.1%, when 9,193 listings were added to the NWMLS database.

When looking at the 27 individual counties in NWMLS’s primary service area, the number of new listings increased year-over-year in 20 counties and decreased year-over-year in 7 counties. The six counties with the largest year-over-year increases were Clallam (+38.6%), Adams (+25%), Pacific (+21.7%), Grays Harbor (+18.2%), Grant (+17.4%), and Walla Walla (+14.6%).  

Closed sales stepped down by 8% from last October across the four counties [King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish]. Median sale prices were split, with 4% growth in King County, 9% higher in Kitsap, but 2% lower in Pierce and 5% lower in Snohomish County. That may represent a continued trend of demand and money retrenching toward the employment center of the region, around Seattle and Bellevue, as new return-to-office policies come into effect.

Pending sales fell 9% across the region, although again, King County’s sales drop looks a bit like some mean reversion after a standout 2024 number.

Pending Sales

There were 6,739 residential units & condo units under contract in October 2025, a decrease of 6.4% when compared to October 2024 (7,199). When compared to the previous month, the number of pending listings decreased by 8.1%, down from 7,335 listings under contract in September 2025.

Finally, on the supply side, the four-county greater Seattle area had 31% more active listings than at the end of October 2024. That continues the moderation of inventory growth we’ve seen since May, when this metric peaked at 45% year-over-year growth. Nonetheless, that is still a lot more inventory than the last couple of years.

Closed Sales

The number of closed sales decreased by 4% year-over-year (6,222 in October 2025 compared to 6,479 in October 2024). When compared to the previous month, the number of closed sales increased slightly by .8%, up from 6,170 sales in September 2025.

16 out of 27 counties saw a decrease in the number of closed sales year-over-year, while 10 saw an increase, and 1 showed no change (Wahkiakum). The six counties with the largest increases were Grays Harbor (+44.3%), Chelan (+30.7%), Kittitas (+26.1%), Grant (+24.3%), Clallam (+19.8%), and Douglas (+13.5%). The total dollar value of closed sales in October 2025 for residential homes was $4,646,829,146 and was $490,930,169 for condominiums ($5,137,759,315 in total).