The Game of Chicken Is Over: Who Blinks First? Home Buyers or Sellers?

‘The Game of Chicken Is Over’: Sellers Are Facing Reality on Pricing and Backing Off Unrealistic Demands

Home sales in 2025, there was a game of chicken. Sellers kept being stubborn, holding onto the phantom equity of pandemic profits, waiting for the bids to come—and they never came. This year, the game is over.

After a year of high interest rates and slow sales, home sellers are finally facing the music this summer—and getting real about home prices. Last year was a "Cruel Summer," marked by excess inventory, flagging sales, and a general sense that buyers and sellers could not connect on expectations.

Now, a year later, Seattle’s housing market posted the steepest year-over-year decline in pending home sales in July 2026, falling 15.6% — the sharpest drop among all major U.S. metropolitan areas GeekWire+1. This outpaced other slowing markets like Houston (-14.3%) and Phoenix (-13.3%) GeekWire. In closed sales, Seattle’s drop was 9.1%, placing it among the five steepest declines nationwide GeekWire.

So, rather than resist the cooling market, sellers have begun adjusting expectations and lowering their initial asking prices.

Here is a look at the current market:

Active Listings:

The total number of properties listed for sale increased 22.0% year over year, with 24,675 active listings on the market at the end of August 2026, compared to 20,219 at the end of August 2025.

Buyers had access to more than 4,400 additional homes compared to a year ago, continuing a trend of expanding inventory across the Northwest MLS service area.

Pending Sales

There were 7,121 residential and condominium units under contract in August 2026, a 6.5% decrease compared to August 2025, when 7,613 listings were under contract.

Closed Sales

Closed sales decreased 7.6% year over year, with 5,861 residential and condominium transactions completed in August 2026, compared to 6,341 in August 2025. Of the 5,861 closed sales in August 2026, 5,181 were residential home sales and 680 were condominium sales.

Last year, sellers were still pricing for the market they remembered, not the one buyers were actually facing. This summer, they have been more realistic from day one—and more willing to adjust when necessary.

When price cuts are necessary, sellers are making their first reduction three to four days sooner than last year, on average 34 days in, rather than 38 days on.

The market continues to course correct.

You could call it the Great Rebalancing. Last year, sellers stubbornly held on to the idea that they could set prices at the same levels they had when interest rates were at 3%.

But with interest rates consistently over 6%, they have had to face facts.

How sellers can make the most of the market

Sellers looking to stand out in the market should get real about what the current market will bear. Concessions that would offend a seller two years ago are becoming a standard part of the deal.

Listing 10% over comparable homes used to be the standard practice in some competitive markets, but not anymore. Trying to list this way will make your listing sit for 60 days. Smart sellers are getting real and are approaching the strike price from day one.

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In fact, smart sellers are slightly underpricing the market.

They are the ones that are winning and making more money, which seems counterintuitive. But if you price yourself just below all your peers in your neighborhood, your house is going to be the one that sells first and is the most marketable. So, you are going to get a nice strong list price offer while all your neighbors are the ones that are letting the days on market add up and increasing the likelihood of them having to come down on their price.

Unfortunately, many sellers are still "unrealistic" about how much leverage they have.

We have seen sellers turning down contracts that are slightly below list price that have been on the market for 60 days or more. And if those are my sellers and I'm representing them, I'm educating them on the data that shows the longer you're on the market, the less likely you are to get full price. So, by them turning down a viable, slightly below-list-price offer, the greatest likelihood is that they're costing themselves money by trying to hold out for something better most of the time. And I think that's truer now than it has been in a long time."

Strategy is mattering more than price, and a successful one is either starting at the right price based on comps, or baking in a price drop to help buyers feel like they're getting a deal. In fact, starting too high can leave sellers with a perception problem that even a price drop won't resolve.

I personally advise sellers to think about how they can meaningfully improve a buyer's bottom line, such as offering a mortgage rate buydown—though buyers should weigh the pros and cons of such a move.

For example, decreasing the price by $20,000 does not lower the monthly payment of the buyer much. But paying $10,000 towards 2-1 rate buydown will lower it substantially.

No matter the strategy employed, sellers should focus on pricing their properties right the first time. Aspirational pricing is a very expensive strategy. By the time you get to the real market price, you have spent the attention that comes with being new to the market, and you rarely get it back.

Side Note: Do Chickens Blink?

Chickens do not blink like humans; instead, they use a third eyelid called the nictitating membrane to clean and protect their eyes.

Chickens have upper and lower eyelids, but unlike humans, they do not open and close them quickly to blink. A blink is defined as a rapid closing and opening of the eyelids, which chickens cannot perform Chicken & Chicks Info+2.