A Buyer's Market to Start 2026. The GSMCR for January, 2026

I hope you've been properly celebrating your 2026 Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks!! 

Back to business and welcome to the latest Seattle Condo Market Review. As always, to jump right to the stats, you can watch that video by clicking here. For more detailed information, continue reading below!

I apologize for the above chart not being the most visually easy to read, but regardless, what I want to highlight is this: We're entering the year already in a buyer's market for Seattle condos. 

it's true. The blue line represents all condo types, the orange line represents traditional condos (one story), and the green line represents non-traditional condos. The latter are going to include the new construction condos we refer to as condo-ized homes or DADU's.

A neutral housing market is roughly 3-4 months worth of inventory. Late Q4 and early Q1, historically, represent the lowest levels of months of inventory because overall inventory is much less compared to the summer and fall months. For the entire condo market to start the year at over 5 months of inventory is definitely NOT what I was wanting to see if 2026 was going to offer relief for the condo market. Of course, we have a LONG way to go so I'm not putting a fork in the condo market just yet. That being said, we're working off quite the deficit. 

At least nationally, mortgage applications from borrowers looking to purchase are at their highest levels in 3 years. It's a small victory. Not one that will save the local condo market, at least not any time soon, but it's a start. I still feel the best friend for the Seattle condo market moving forward will be the decline of new apartment construction though I don't expect that impact to start making a difference until next year at the earliest. Perhaps more on that later in a future edition. 

Onto the stats :

The median sale price for a Seattle condo in January registered at $557,000. That is down 19.3% YoY and up, just barely, MoM from $555,000. Inventory remains elevated with 21.6% more units on the market YoY. The months of inventory statistic increased significantly YoY to 5.39 months from 3.02. 

I hope you all properly celebrated the Seahawks Super Bowl victory! Below is a picture a colleague of mine found. Sadly, despite this person having a striking resemblance to me, I can confirm this is not me. But I can assure you we shared the same spirit that day. Go Hawks!

Onward!