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Seattle, WA 98103

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Seattle prices just dropped $75,000 in a month

Seattle prices just dropped $75,000 in a month A brand new MLS tool, a hot jobs report, and the clearest sign yet the market turned. Here's what it means for you.
Akash Sandhu  |  September 10, 2026
A Note From Us
Good morning. Two things changed last week that actually matter, not just headline noise. NWMLS rolled out a brand new pre-marketing tool called First Look, the first "coming soon" style status the MLS has ever allowed. And King County's numbers came in for August, and for the first time this cycle, prices didn't just flatten, they actually dropped. Both stories point the same direction: this is a different market than the one we were all operating in a year ago, and sellers who adjust to it first will do better than sellers who wait for it to feel like 2022 again.
The Number
21days
Why NWMLS chose "First Look" over "Coming Soon"

NWMLS's new pre-marketing status launched September 4th, and the name itself tells you what matters. "Coming soon" implies a home isn't available yet. First Look doesn't, because it is available, buyers just see it before it hits full Active status. That's a small distinction with real implications for how sellers and brokers use it.

A few things worth knowing:

  1. Sellers get up to 21 days of public marketing before the listing has to go Active
  2. You only get one First Look per listing. If it's pulled or moved off-market and comes back later, it re-enters as Active, no second shot. That's a real incentive to be fully ready, final photos, final price, final marketing, before using it, not a soft launch
  3. Any time spent in First Look still counts toward days on market once the listing goes Active, so it's not a way to reset the clock
  4. Our approach at HSG: we're treating First Look listings with the same prep and professionalism as an Active listing from day one, and defaulting to full IDX inclusion rather than holding listings back

It's a real tool. Used well, it should mean stronger launches for our sellers, not just a longer waiting period for buyers.

What We're Seeing
Everywhere
Price drops and concessions, across the board

This isn't isolated to one price point or one neighborhood. We're seeing it on our own listings, on listings we're not involved in, at the low end and the high end, all over the map.

  1. Our own listings. Four of ours dropped prices this week alone, on NW 51st Street, 167th Place SW, 183rd Place SE, and 100th Avenue NE, all in the last several days.
  2. It's not just us. We're seeing the same pattern across other brokerages' listings too, this is a market-wide shift, not a handful of sellers getting nervous.
  3. It's not just entry-level. We'd expect price cuts to concentrate in the affordable end of the market. They're not. We're seeing it at every price point we track.

Combined with King County's median sale price dropping $75,000 in a single month (more on that below), this is the clearest signal yet that August marked a real turn, not just a slow summer.

What We're Loving

3517 43rd Avenue NE, Laurelhurst

$10,950,000 — 3517 43rd Avenue NE, Laurelhurst

What got us: the folding glass wall across the entire back of the living room. Slide it open and the whole space turns into a covered porch overlooking the lake, no threshold, no transition, just water and Douglas firs where a wall used to be.

1065 Summit Avenue E, Capitol Hill

$5,500,000 — 1065 Summit Avenue E, Capitol Hill

What got us: the vaulted wood ceiling in the primary suite. It's not a flat accent, it's a full curved barrel of cedar planking that pulls your eye up the second you walk in, and it somehow doesn't compete with the lake view right below it.

Plain English Take
Strong jobs numbers are usually good news. For mortgage rates right now, they're not, because a hot August jobs report just flipped the market from betting on a Fed rate cut to pricing roughly 50/50 odds of a hike this month. That's kept rates elevated even as home prices are actually falling, a combination we haven't seen much of this cycle. If you're a seller, that means leaning into tools like First Look and being realistic on price matters more than it did six months ago. If you're a buyer, it means the leverage you're gaining on price is real, even if the rate you're borrowing at isn't getting any easier.
This Week In Seattle
Two very different ways to spend the weekend.

BrickCon 2026

BrickCon Public Exhibition
September 12-13 · Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue
The longest-running LEGO fan convention in the world turns 25 this year. Hundreds of builders show off original creations, from city layouts to working trains, plus a robot battle arena and a mosaic wall you can help build. If you've got a LEGO kid, or you are the LEGO kid, this one's worth the drive.

Learn More

Washington State Fair 2026

Washington State Fair
September 4-27 · Puyallup (closed Tuesdays and Sept 9)
"Do the Puyallup" is back for its full run. Fair food, rides, animals, live music, the whole nostalgia trip. Plan around the Tuesday closures if you're headed out.

Learn More

Waca Maya

Neighborhood Pick
10410 Holman Rd N · North Seattle
5.0 stars on Google (95 reviews) is not a fluke. This new Venezuelan spot has been turning heads since it opened, Seattle Met featured their plantains back in April. We stopped in and it did not disappoint, if you haven't had Venezuelan food, this is a great place to start.

Order Here ▶ Watch Our Reel

 

National
50/50
The odds of a Fed rate hike this month, after a hot jobs report
Quick follow-up on the bond story from last issue. The August jobs report came in way stronger than expected, 162,000 jobs added versus 56,000 forecast, and it flipped market expectations almost overnight. A few weeks ago, traders were pricing in a possible Fed rate cut. Now they're pricing roughly 50/50 odds of a hike at this month's meeting instead.

That's kept the 10 year Treasury elevated, sitting around 4.78% to 4.81%, and the 30 year fixed mortgage rate right along with it, in the high 6.6% to 6.7% range. The next thing to watch is the CPI inflation print on September 10th. A soft number gives the Fed room to hold steady. A hot one, and a hike becomes a lot more likely.
Seattle
$75,000
What King County's median sale price dropped in a single month
King County's median residential sale price, per NWMLS Matrix data, fell from $995,000 in July to $920,000 in August, a 7.5% drop in one month. It's also down 7.1% from a year ago. Closed sales dropped too, from 1,600 homes in July to 1,450 in August, so this isn't just a shift in which homes happened to sell, actual sales activity slowed alongside the price.

After months of a market that just felt tired, flat prices, slower showings, nothing dramatic, August is the first month where the numbers actually moved. Combined with active listings up 30% year over year across the county, buyers are working with real leverage for the first time in a while.
Worth Reading
  1. Compass settles lawsuit with NWMLS, here's what changes — Inman
  2. First Look signals coming soon expansion across MLSs — HousingWire
  3. NWMLS monthly market snapshot, August 2026 — Northwest Multiple Listing Service
  4. 10 year Treasury yield tops 4.8% after strong jobs report — Trading Economics
  5. Eat This: Plantains at Waca Maya — Seattle Met
Active Listings
  1. A Bothell four bedroom on 183rd Place SE, $974,900 $949,900 — price drop
  2. A second Bothell four bedroom on 167th Place SW, $924,900 $899,900 — price drop
  3. A Seattle three bedroom on NW 51st Street, $734,900 $724,900 — price drop
  4. A Bellevue one bedroom with a rooftop deck, $479,900 $449,900 — price drop
  5. A Ballard Craftsman with a detached ADU on NW 90th Street, $1,295,000
  6. A Tukwila two bedroom on 44th Ave S, $459,950
  7. A Seattle condo on Elliott Ave W, 3D tour available, $259,000
Recent Activity
Closed Last Week
  1. A Tacoma condo on St. Helens Avenue, closed at full asking price
  2. A Magnolia home on W Raye Street, closed at $1,250,000, $100,000 under the original list price for our buyer client
  3. A Normandy Park home on SW 206th Street, closed at $1,425,000
  4. A West Seattle three bedroom on 18th Ave SW, closed at $660,000
Thinking through your next move?
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Henry Shim and Akash Sandhu

Henry H. Shim & Akash S. Sandhu
Henry Shim Group

Windermere Real Estate

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.

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Henry Shim Group

(206) 856-8387

Address 1920 N 34th St Seattle, WA 98103

Windermere Real Estate Midtown

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Henry Shim Group

(206) 856-8387

Address 1920 N 34th St Seattle, WA 98103

Windermere Real Estate Midtown