Major Change In Puget Sound Housing Market, Prices May Drop

SEATTLE, WA - The Puget Sound housing market has experienced a relatively major shift, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Sales are slowing, and the inventory of homes for sale is up by double-digits in many areas - up 78 percent year-over-year in King County alone.

Pending sales and closings are also down compared to September 2017. Across 23 counties, pending sales are down 14 percent, closings down 18.5 percent, according to the NWMLS September report.

"Balance is finally returning to the market, and with it, slowing home price growth," Windemere Real Estate president OB Jacobi said in a press release.

Home prices were still rising in September. In King County, the median sales price of a home was up 8 percent to $610,000. Only in North King County did median sale prices drop. In Snohomish County, prices grew a modest 6.5 percent. But in Pierce County, prices grew by almost 10 percent.

File photo by Neal McNamara/Patch