Seattle Housing Market Watch – February 18, 2025

By Zach McDonald, Real Property Associates

This week’s Seattle Housing Market Watch includes something new: fresh MLS data offering deeper insight into how competitive today’s market truly is. Alongside our regular King and Snohomish County weekly stats, we’re now tracking key buyer-behavior metrics like inspection contingencies, financing contingencies, escalation clauses, and the percentage of homes receiving multiple offers. This added transparency helps both buyers and sellers better understand what it takes to succeed in the current market.

Weekly New Listings and Market Activity

New listings continue to trend upward, which is normal for this time of year. Last week, 478 homes hit the market across King and Snohomish counties. Although inventory is rising gradually, the market still feels tight—especially in the median-priced single-family segment.

Price reductions are becoming less common as sellers adjust more appropriately to current market conditions. Certain property types—like condos or luxury homes—naturally require longer market times, so price-reduction strategies vary depending on property type and buyer demand.

Contingent sales remain rare, with only nine contingent listings out of more than 600 pending homes, a strong indication that sellers hold the advantage and many buyers must write strong, non-contingent offers to compete.

Closed sales reached 400, slightly below new listings but still strong enough to continue pushing inventory upward. Both January and February are on track for higher inventory than previous years, which means the spring selling window may come earlier than usual.

Early Spring Dynamics: Opportunity for Sellers

We’re already seeing multiple-offer situations in desirable areas. Homes in the median price range are selling quickly, and buyers who have been waiting through winter are jumping in as new listings appear.

This year, the best window for sellers may arrive earlier than the traditional mid-spring peak. More inventory is expected over the next few months, and as options increase, buyer urgency typically softens. Listing sooner may allow sellers to benefit from today’s lower-inventory, high-demand environment.

Mortgage Rates Hold Steady Around 7%

Mortgage News Daily reports the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.02%, the lowest since December but still essentially unchanged from the 7.0–7.1% range we’ve seen for more than a month. Rates remain higher than buyers would prefer, but stability is offering buyers more predictability as they enter the market.

New MLS Insights: How Competitive Is the Market?

This week’s newly added MLS data provides a clearer picture of what offers actually look like right now.

Snohomish County

• Average sale-to-list price: 100% of asking

• Listings with multiple offers: 30%

• Offers with escalation clauses: 10%

• Offers with inspection contingencies: 44%

• Offers with financing contingencies: 75%

Even though 100% of asking is the average, the presence of multiple offers and escalation addendums shows that competitive properties continue to sell above asking price.

King County

• Average sale-to-list price: 102% of asking

• Listings with multiple offers: 40%

• Offers with escalation clauses: 16%

• Offers with inspection contingencies: 36%

• Offers with financing contingencies: 63%

King County remains more competitive overall, with higher sale-to-list ratios and more multiple-offer scenarios. As competition increases, the number of inspection and financing contingencies decreases—buyers must waive more protections to win.

What These Trends Mean for Buyers and Sellers

More multiple-offer scenarios naturally lead to fewer contingencies and higher sale prices. Buyers must balance protecting themselves with writing an offer strong enough to win. Pre-inspections, strong financing preparation, and clear negotiation strategy can make the difference.

For sellers, these trends highlight the continued opportunity to capture strong offers—especially if listing earlier in the season while inventory remains lower.