No. 2 in tech talent, No. 5 in sellers giving up and renting

A Note From Us

Good morning. Two stories broke about Seattle's tech economy this week, and they point in opposite directions. One is a ranking that puts us in rare company. The other is a fresh round of layoffs at one of our biggest employers. Here's how we're reading both, plus a trend we're watching closely, sellers who list, don't get the offer they want, and quietly become landlords instead.

The Number

No. 2

Seattle's rank among North America's tech talent markets, again

CBRE's 2026 Tech Talent Scorecard came out last week, and Seattle held onto the No. 2 spot for the sixth year running, trailing only the Bay Area. The region scored 74.37 out of 100, well clear of third place, on the strength of a deep AI workforce. Seattle is home to more than 41,000 workers with AI skills, the third largest concentration in North America, and tech jobs now make up over 10% of all employment in the metro area, nearly double the average across the 50 markets CBRE studied.

That same week, Starbucks filed another WARN notice with the state, this one covering 224 more jobs tied to its Seattle headquarters. Combined with earlier rounds this year, that puts the company's 2026 Seattle HQ cuts at 537. The company says the filing does not represent a new round of restructuring, just the final piece of changes announced back in May, including employees who declined to relocate to the company's new Nashville office.

Two stories, same week. That's the market we're working in right now. The CBRE data reflects workforce composition through 2025, so this year's layoffs across the tech sector nationally, which CBRE says now account for 31% of all U.S. job cuts through June, aren't even baked into that No. 2 ranking yet. Worth noting too, the report flagged Seattle's office vacancy rate at 28.6% as of the fourth quarter of 2025, the highest of all 50 markets studied. The talent base is deep and it's growing. The office footprint that talent used to fill is shrinking. Both are true at once.

What We're Seeing

3.1%

Share of Seattle rental listings that were first posted for sale

Zillow calls it the rise of the "accidental landlord", a home listed for sale for at least two weeks, then pulled and relisted as a rental within three months. Nationally that's about 2.3% of rental listings, close to a three year high. In Seattle, Axios reports the share is 3.1%, higher than the national rate and concentrated in single family houses.

Redfin's numbers back this up from the other direction. Seattle's delisting rate hit 7.7% in April, the fifth highest share among the 50 largest U.S. metros and up a full point from a year earlier. Sellers are testing the market, not getting the price they want, and pulling the listing rather than cutting it.

On the ground, we're seeing this most with owners who bought or refinanced at a low rate and don't want to give it up. Renting buys time without resetting that rate, and with Washington's rent stabilization law capping annual increases at 9.68%, it's a fairly predictable bet for someone who isn't in a rush. The tradeoff is fewer homes for buyers to choose from in exactly the price ranges where inventory is already tight, and a slower path back to a sale whenever these owners do decide to list again.

This Week In Seattle

A festival worth going all in on, and a dumpling worth the hype.

National

6.78%

This week's 30 year fixed rate, drifting to its highest point of the year

Mortgage News Daily's daily index put the 30 year fixed at 6.78% this week, drifting modestly higher. Freddie Mac's weekly survey had it at 6.65% as of August 20, down slightly from 6.67% the week before, the two sources diverging slightly on timing but agreeing on direction, rates are sticky in the high 6s.

NAR's most recent report still stands as the latest read on the national market, July pending sales down 2.3% month over month to the lowest level since January, and existing home sales down 1.7% to a 4.06 million annual pace even as the median price set a record for the month at $434,100. NAR's chief economist has pointed squarely at rates, the highest of the year landed right as more buyers would normally be shopping.

The Fed has held its federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75% all year. The next meeting is September 16, three weeks out, and until then rates are moving mostly on inflation and Treasury market data rather than anything from the Fed itself.

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Henry H. Shim & Akash S. Sandhu

Henry Shim Group

Henry Shim Group · Windermere Real Estate Midtown · 1920 N 34th St, Seattle, WA 98103
All data sourced from NWMLS, Redfin, Zillow, Mortgage News Daily, NAR, or as otherwise cited. Not financial or legal advice. Equal Housing Opportunity.