Nationally, yes. In King County, the sellers are there and the buyers held.
Redfin counted 58% more sellers than buyers across the country last month, the widest gap in its records, and put the Seattle metro at 72% more sellers than buyers (Redfin, September 10).
The closest thing I can measure locally is houses for sale against houses going under contract, from the MLS itself:
King County: 5,836 houses for sale last month against 1,530 that went under contract. That is 3.8 for sale for every one a buyer took, up from 3.0 a year earlier, and the highest for late summer since 2011. Buyers did not leave: 1,530 under contract against 1,522 a year earlier. Sellers arrived: 28% more for sale.
Seattle is where Redfin's gap shows: 1,819 for sale against 456 under contract, 4.0 to 1, up from 2.7, with 14% fewer buyers signing than a year earlier.
Where the new supply sits: above $900,000, roughly the county's typical sale price, 3,382 houses were for sale, the most for late summer since 2006. Seattle's above-$900,000 count, 877, is a record too.
Prices held: King County sellers got 97.8% of their first asking price, and the typical house found its buyer in 17 days.
My read: Redfin's headline is about supply, and supply is real here. What Redfin's number cannot show is that King County buyers kept signing at last year's pace. So a buyer above $900,000 has the most to choose from in twenty years and should negotiate like it; a buyer below it has an ordinary late summer; a seller anywhere is competing with more neighbors, at prices that have not moved.
If you know someone deciding whether to buy or sell, forward this to them.
Rami Al-Kabra
REALTOR®, eXp Realty
(206) 701-9272
[email protected]
Source: NWMLS via Infosparks, King County and Seattle, residential and the $900,000-and-up slice, August of each year 2006 to 2026, pulled September 11, 2026. Redfin figures as published September 10, 2026.