If you are tracking the King County housing market heading into the second half of 2026, the July picture is more nuanced than a single headline number can carry. Prices in most cities are flat to slightly lower than a year ago, but inventory has expanded, homes are still going pending in roughly two weeks, and well-prepared listings are still closing at or very near asking. In other words, this is not a falling market and it is not a frenzy — it is the first genuinely negotiable summer King County has had since 2019, and the negotiation is happening on terms far more often than on price.
Key takeaways
Seattle's median sale price is about $889,500, down 2.3% year over year, with a median 11 days on market and a sale-to-list ratio just above 100%. Bellevue and Kirkland saw the largest resets among the large Eastside cities, down 8.9% and 8.0% respectively on median price. Months of supply across the major cities has moved from roughly 2.0–2.9 a year ago to 2.8–3.9 today, which is why buyers can finally ask for inspection and timeline terms. Meanwhile the South End — Auburn, Federal Way, Kent, Burien, Des Moines — is the only cluster showing positive year-over-year median price movement.
What the July 2026 numbers actually say
The table below covers the King County cities with a large enough closed-sale sample to report change reliably. All figures are Redfin's rolling three-month period ending June 30, 2026, released July 3, 2026, measured against the same rolling period one year earlier. Rolling three-month data is the right lens for a monthly update because single-month medians in cities that close fewer than fifty homes swing on mix, not on market direction.
| City | Median sale price | 1-yr change | Median $/sq ft | $/sq ft 1-yr | Median days on market | Months of supply | Months of supply 1 yr ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $889,516 | -2.3% | $567 | -3.9% | 11 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| Bellevue | $1,549,157 | -8.9% | $680 | -9.2% | 12 | 3.8 | 2.6 |
| Sammamish | $1,624,116 | -3.3% | $595 | -6.8% | 9 | 3.3 | 2.0 |
| Mercer Island | $2,498,640 | +0.0% | $775 | -8.0% | 9 | 2.9 | 2.7 |
| Redmond | $1,324,279 | -0.4% | $648 | -6.6% | 14 | 3.4 | 2.2 |
| Kirkland | $1,279,304 | -8.0% | $682 | -3.9% | 20 | 3.5 | 2.9 |
| Bothell | $1,041,433 | -13.2% | $504 | -7.7% | 16 | 3.9 | 2.5 |
| Issaquah | $999,956 | -3.6% | $531 | -6.3% | 13 | 3.2 | 2.5 |
| Kenmore | $941,987 | -5.8% | $486 | -8.5% | 11 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| Shoreline | $784,573 | -0.2% | $503 | +4.1% | 7 | 2.2 | 1.7 |
| Maple Valley | $734,600 | -2.1% | $382 | -3.1% | 8 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Covington | $699,619 | +3.6% | $335 | -7.5% | 19 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
| Renton | $669,636 | -7.6% | $393 | -2.1% | 15 | 3.6 | 2.3 |
| Burien | $659,641 | +2.3% | $410 | -0.2% | 8 | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| Kent | $654,644 | +0.7% | $340 | -4.4% | 15 | 2.8 | 2.2 |
| Auburn | $634,655 | +6.0% | $323 | -0.2% | 14 | 3.2 | 2.4 |
| Federal Way | $629,158 | +3.1% | $314 | -5.2% | 11 | 3.3 | 2.3 |
| Des Moines | $599,674 | +1.6% | $385 | +9.3% | 6 | 2.9 | 2.5 |
Read the last two columns first. Every large city in King County except Maple Valley is carrying more months of supply than it was a year ago, and in several Eastside cities the increase is dramatic: Sammamish moved from 2.0 to 3.3, Redmond from 2.2 to 3.4, Bellevue from 2.6 to 3.8. Supply is the variable that changed. Price followed it, mildly, with a lag.
Why median price and price per square foot are telling different stories
Several cities show a positive median price change alongside a negative price-per-square-foot change — Auburn, Kent, Federal Way and Covington all fit that pattern. This is a mix effect, not a contradiction. When more large new-construction and newer resale homes close in a given quarter, the median rises even as the value of each square foot slips. If you are pricing a specific house, price per square foot within your own neighborhood and vintage is the more honest signal; the citywide median mostly tells you what type of home happened to sell.
The reverse pattern appears on the Eastside. Bellevue's median is down 8.9% while its price per square foot is down 9.2% — the two agree, which means the softening there is real and not a mix artifact. Bellevue and Kirkland are the two cities where a 2025 pricing assumption will cost a seller the most money in 2026.
The negotiation window is real, and it is mostly about terms
Sale-to-list ratios tell you where the leverage sits. Seattle at 100.6%, Auburn at 100.3%, Des Moines at 100.3% and Shoreline at 100.3% are still clearing above asking on average, which means a strong, well-prepared listing under roughly $800,000 continues to attract competition. Bellevue at 98.6%, Redmond at 98.6% and Kirkland at 98.4% are averaging below asking, which is the statistical fingerprint of a market where buyers are writing one offer instead of five.
In the offers our team has written since May, the concessions that are getting accepted are inspection contingencies, thirty-to-forty-day closes structured around the seller's move, and seller-paid rate buydowns. Straight price cuts remain the hardest ask, because sellers protect the headline number more fiercely than they protect their net. A buydown that costs a seller $18,000 often lowers a buyer's payment more than a $40,000 price reduction would — and the seller says yes to the first and no to the second. That asymmetry is the single most useful thing to know about negotiating in King County right now.
Where the county is actually splitting
Seattle proper
Eleven days to pending and a sale-to-list ratio above 100% describe a functioning, competitive market with a median near $889,500. The 2.3% annual decline is a rounding-scale move against a city median of this size, and it is concentrated in condominiums and in homes that came to market needing work. Turnkey single-family homes in strong walk-score neighborhoods are still receiving multiple offers.
The Eastside
This is where the reset is visible. Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, Bothell and Kenmore all show mid-single-digit to low-double-digit annual declines in median price or price per square foot, with supply up sharply. For buyers who were priced out of the Eastside in 2021 and 2022, this is the first window in four years with real room to inspect, compare and walk away. For sellers, the market is still there — but only at a number supported by closed sales from the last sixty days, not by a neighbor's aspirational list price.
The South End
Auburn up 6.0%, Federal Way up 3.1%, Covington up 3.6%, Burien up 2.3%, Kent up 0.7% and Des Moines up 1.6% make the South End the only broad cluster in the county with positive annual median price movement. Affordability is doing the work: buyers priced out of the $1M-plus tier are competing for the $600,000–$750,000 band, and inventory there has not expanded as fast as it has on the Eastside. Des Moines' 9.3% jump in price per square foot alongside a six-day median time on market is the sharpest example of that pressure.
What to do with this if you are buying
Be pre-underwritten rather than pre-approved. In a market where sellers are receiving one or two offers, underwriting certainty is worth roughly as much as a waived financing contingency was worth two years ago, and it costs you nothing but paperwork. Beyond that, target listings that have passed thirty days on market in the Eastside cities — Kirkland's twenty-day median and Covington's nineteen-day median mean a listing sitting past thirty days is measurably behind its own market, and its seller knows it. Finally, ask for the buydown before you ask for the discount, for the reason described above.
What to do with this if you are selling
Price to the last sixty days of closed sales in your own attendance area and vintage, not to the last twelve months. In a market where price per square foot has slipped between 3% and 9% across most of the county, a listing priced off 2025 comparables will spend its first three weeks — the weeks when buyer attention peaks — proving that it is overpriced, and will typically sell for less than a correctly priced launch would have achieved.
Preparation has also stopped being optional. With three-plus months of supply on the Eastside, buyers are comparing your home to four others in the same price band on the same weekend. Paint, floors, lighting and professional photography routinely return several times their cost, and they shorten days on market, which itself protects price. The listings we have taken to market pre-inspected this summer have consistently drawn cleaner offers, because the buyer's biggest unknown is removed before they write.
Frequently asked questions
Is the King County housing market crashing in 2026?
No. The countywide pattern is a mild reset in prices — mostly in the range of flat to down 9% year over year depending on city — alongside more inventory and normal two-week pending times. Homes across the county are still averaging 98% to 101% of list price, which is not the profile of a distressed market.
What is the median home price in King County right now?
There is no single useful county median because the range runs from about $599,700 in Des Moines to roughly $2.5 million on Mercer Island. Seattle sits near $889,500 and Bellevue near $1,549,200 for the rolling three months ending June 30, 2026 per Redfin.
Which King County cities are still appreciating?
The South End cluster — Auburn, Covington, Federal Way, Burien, Kent and Des Moines — is the only group with broadly positive annual median price change in this period, driven by affordability-tier demand.
Is this a buyer's or seller's market?
Technically still a seller's market: under three months of supply is the traditional dividing line, and most King County cities sit between 1.9 and 3.9 months. Practically, the Eastside now behaves like a balanced market and the South End still behaves like a seller's market.
Should I wait for prices to fall further before buying?
The risk in waiting is that mortgage rates and prices tend to move in opposite directions here. Every meaningful downward move in rates over the last three years has pulled waiting buyers back in and absorbed inventory within weeks. If your payment is comfortable and you plan to hold five years or more, the terms available today are more valuable than a hypothetical price cut later.
