2026 August Housing Market Update

By Matt Stark

Matt Stark is a top 1% REALTOR® in Seattle with over 19 years of experience. A Seattle native, he began his career in 1999 as an investor before transitioning to full-time real estate.

Every month, I like to track where our market actually is, not where headlines say it is. And as we close out August 2026 and look toward fall and winter, the numbers are telling a pretty clear story.

So here’s my end-of-August read on the Greater Northwest, and what I think it means for you heading into the back half of the year.

Inventory is climbing toward its yearly peak and is well above last year’s level. Around this time, we usually reach the year’s highest inventory, and last year that peak came in mid-September. In my opinion, we’re on track for about the same timing. Right now, there are roughly 2,220 active listings.

For context, the highest we reached all of last year was about 1,660, so we’re sitting more than 36% above last year’s peak. That’s not a one-month blip, either. If you’ve followed my updates, you’ve heard me point to between 30% and 40% more inventory for much of the year. This is a consistent trend, not a surprise.

More supply and softer demand have started to pull prices down. When you’ve got more homes competing for fewer buyers, prices ease, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing. Year-over-year, the average sale price in August is down about 6%.

The number I watch most closely, though, isn’t just the count of listings; it’s the months of supply of inventory because it accounts for how quickly homes are actually being absorbed, not just how many are sitting out there.

Last year at this time, we had about two and a half months of supply. Right now we’re at about 3.6 months. By the way I read it, that pushes us out of seller’s territory and toward buyers. I watch a threshold of around three to three and a half months, once we’re above that, I see the balance tipping toward buyers, and three months or less puts sellers back in control. It’s a tighter threshold than some use, but it’s the line I’ve found tracks our market.

Here’s where I think it goes from here. Prices have come down a fair amount, with 6% year-over-year for 2026. But we’re reaching a point where all the homes that sold through spring and early summer are now closed, and those become the new comparables at these lower prices.

So future sellers will be coming onto the market priced against that new, lower level rather than the spring’s. And I do think there’s real demand at this new price point. My expectation, based on the research I do every month, is that prices will likely stabilize as we move into fall and winter and head toward 2027.

We’ll keep watching it month to month, but we’re at a new level now where buyers are starting to see value. They understand the market; they know prices have come down quite a bit in some cases, and there are some genuinely nice properties out there at attractive prices right now, especially compared to last year, or 2024, or even 2023. We’re well below those levels.

That’s the part I find interesting, and it’s why I track this stuff so closely.

If there’s ever anything I can do for you, whether you’ve got a question about the market, about your own property, or you just want someone who knows how to price a home in this market, reach out anytime. Call or text me at 206-940-4557, email me at matt@mattstarkrealestate.com, or browse what’s active right now at searchhomesnw.com. Whenever you’re ready, I’m here to help.