New listings continue to outpace sales as inventory builds

Published on: June 4, 2025

Northwest MLS, the source for the most current, accurate market listing data in Washington state, today released its Market Snapshot for May 2025.

Market Recap

The real estate market continued to experience significant growth in housing inventory across NWMLS’s coverage area. While buyer activity showed some signs of seasonal strength, it continued to lag behind the surge in new and active listings. Buyers may be slow to accepting what may be a new normal, with mortgage rates continuing to hover close to 7% and construction costs hampering new developments.

Still, May brought some encouraging signs for buyers. The number of active listings reached 18,310, marking the highest level of inventory since September 2018 when there were 19,256 homes on the market. In addition, prices showed signs of stabilizing: the median home price declined 1% year-over-year and edged up less than 1% from April, indicating a slowdown in price growth. This increase in supply gives buyers more options and may help ease some competitive pressure.

Consumer activity reflected this renewed interest. Keyboxes at listed properties were accessed 179,613 times, up 16.7% from April and 9.9% year-over-year. Scheduled showings also rose, up 13.9% from the previous month and 2.8% from May 2024, based on appointments made through NWMLS-provided software.

Among other tools available to NWMLS brokers is the Down Payment Resource (DPR) program, which connects buyers to down payment assistance options. There were 20,416 DPR-eligible properties on the market in May 2025, 70.30% of active listings, meaning buyers could potentially qualify for additional financial support on nearly three-quarters of the available inventory even as prices remain elevated in many markets.

Yet despite increased inventory, sales growth did not keep pace. “Relative to the previous month, the number of active listings increased by 3,851 (from 14,459 in April 2025), while the number of closed sales increased by only 580 (from 5,887 in April 2025),” said Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research (WCRER). “In other words, listings increased by nearly six and a half times the growth in the number of sales.”

May 2025 Key Takeaways

Active Listings

• There was a 42.63% increase year-over-year in the total number of properties listed for sale in the NWMLS service area, from 12,837 in May 2024 to 18,310 active listings in May 2025. This was also a 26.6% increase from 14,459 active listings in April 2025.
• The number of homes for sale year-over-year increased throughout the NWMLS coverage area, with 24 out of 26 counties seeing a double-digit year-over-year increase. The six counties with the highest increases in active inventory were Clallam (+72.5%), Snohomish (+64.1%), Ferry (+59.1%), King (+57.7%), Grant (+53.3%) and Adams (+52.3%).

Closed Sales

• The number of closed sales decreased by 3.3% year-over-year, down from 6,689 in May 2024 to 6,467 in May 2025. When compared to the previous month, the number of closed sales increased by 9.9%, up from 5,887 sales in April 2025.
• The five counties with the largest increases were Jefferson (+48.4%), Cowlitz (+47.8%), San Juan (+27.8%), Adams (+20%) and Skagit (+17.5%).

Median Sales Price and Total Dollar Value

• Overall, the median price for residential homes and condominiums sold in May 2025 was $654,995, a slight decrease of 0.8% when compared to May 2024 ($660,000). When compared to last month, the median price slightly increased ($650,000 in April 2025).
• The three counties with the highest median sale prices were King ($865,000), San Juan ($831,000) and Snohomish ($785,000), and the three counties with the lowest median sale prices were Ferry ($138,000), Columbia ($256,000) and Pacific ($323,000).
• The total dollar value of closed sales in May 2025 for residential homes was $4,732,782,810 and was $546,957,344 for condominiums ($5,279,740,154 in total).

Consumer and Broker Activity

NWMLS also provided insights into consumer activities during the month of May 2025:

• Keyboxes located at listed properties were accessed 179,613 times in May 2025, a 16.7% increase from April 2025 when they were accessed 153,949 times. Keybox activity increased year-over-year by 9.9%, with keyboxes being accessed 163,414 times in May 2024.
• The total number of property showings scheduled through NWMLS-provided software increased 13.9% from 116,336 in April 2025 to 132,501 in May 2025. This was a year-over-year increase of 2.8% from the number of showings in May 2024 (128,924).
• In May 2025, there were 20,416 listed properties that were eligible for the DPR program offered by NWMLS, a 21.3% increase from 16,830 in April 2025. This was also a 34.7% year-over-year increase from 15,155 eligible listings in May 2024.
• In May 2025, 70.30% of listings with NWMLS were eligible for DPR programs, a decrease of 1.7% from April 2025 (71.5%). This was a 1.3% year-over-year increase from 69.40% of listings in May 2024.