What the latest Northwest MLS snapshot tells buyers and sellers

Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported that in September 2026 the median sale price across King County, for homes and condos combined, was $850,000; for single-family homes alone it was $949,975. Snohomish County's median was $720,000, and the all-county NWMLS median was $625,000.

Those are medians, not averages and not asking prices. A median means half of the homes that actually closed sold for less and half sold for more, so it is the best single pointer toward the middle of the market. What it does not do is tell you what your home or your target home is worth: that is local, block by block.

If you are shopping for a single-family home in King County, the middle of the market is near the $950,000 mark, which means the realistic starting conversation for most buyers is what that level of home buys in the areas you want. On the Eastside, independent analyses of closed sales put the medians for Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish roughly between $1.4 million and $1.7 million this summer, which is a different conversation entirely.

The point is not the specific number, which shifts every month. The point is the shape: the closer you get to the lake and the core Eastside cities, the higher the floor. Knowing that before you start touring saves you the heartbreak of falling for a home that was never in range.

For sellers, a median around $850,000 to $950,000 in King County is a reminder that the market still has real price power, but the days of automatic over-asking are not universal. Well-prepared, well-priced homes in desirable areas still attract multiple offers; tired listings in oversupplied corners sit.

The single most useful exercise before listing is a serious comparable-market analysis with your agent, not a guess from an online estimate. The online number is entertainment; the closed sales of true comparables are evidence.

Watch the trend, not the headline. A single month's median can be pushed around by what happened to be listed that month, from a few luxury waterfront sales to a wave of entry-level condos. The questions to ask your agent monthly: are days on market rising or falling in your corridor, are sellers reducing prices or holding firm, and is inventory growing faster than sales?

I publish these notes to build that habit: not to predict the future, but to know what the present actually is. The full September 2026 snapshot is available from Northwest MLS, and it is worth reading in the original.