Seattle-area owners are holding onto their properties at document charges — jamming up the area’s regular cycle of shopping for and promoting.
Redfin tracks house turnover charges by what proportion of a area’s total houses modified possession over a time period. Within the first 9 months of this yr, simply 20 out of each 1,000 houses have modified palms within the Seattle space. That’s down from 38 houses in 2021 and the bottom regional turnover fee since no less than 2012.
Seattle isn’t alone. Your complete nation is coming down from a excessive of homebuying amid irresistibly low rates of interest throughout the pandemic. Nationwide, 28 out of each 1,000 houses modified house owners in 2025. That’s probably the bottom turnover fee in no less than 30 years and down from 44 houses in 2021, in keeping with Redfin.
A significant purpose owners are staying put is mortgage charges. Regardless of a latest easing, they’ve hovered at almost double their pandemic ranges, dampening market exercise.
“All people who was ever going to maneuver out of their house or apartment, and improve their house, did so when there was a seemingly unending quarantine,” mentioned John Manning, an agent at RE/MAX Gateway. “Folks’s houses grew to become actually, actually necessary to them.”
Between 2021 and 2023, house turnover charges dropped by almost half within the Seattle space and haven’t modified a lot since.
Those that purchased throughout the pandemic simply completed settling into their new houses — and received’t be prepared to maneuver for some time. Others who selected to remain of their houses probably refinanced and aren’t prepared to double or triple their rates of interest merely for a nicer house, Manning mentioned.
Reworking has grow to be a preferred possibility for this section of the inhabitants, mentioned Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. Seattle residents collectively spent $2 billion extra on house enchancment initiatives between 2021 and 2023, in keeping with Harvard College’s Joint Middle for Housing Research.
Folks itemizing their houses are doing so as a result of they need to — be it for a brand new job, divorce or a bigger household.
However Seattle patrons aren’t chomping on the bit to scoop up these new listings — leaving the area with higher-than-usual stock this yr. Consultants say patrons are dragging their ft for a similar causes individuals refuse to promote their houses: financial uncertainty and excessive rates of interest.
With fewer listings lately, house costs are going up — placing homeownership additional out of attain.
A weakened job economic system and layoffs within the Seattle space have chilled shopping for exercise, contributing to Seattle’s turnover fee falling quicker than the nationwide common, Fairweather mentioned.
Greater than 4,280 tech employees within the Seattle space have been laid off this yr, in keeping with state regulatory filings.
A latest wave of layoffs is more likely to exacerbate worry going ahead as properly.
Final month, Amazon laid off 14,000 employees — 2,200 of them in Seattle and Bellevue, and Starbucks laid off nearly 1,000 primarily company employees in Seattle and Kent.
These layoffs have made many company employees, whether or not immediately affected or not, uneasy and unwilling to make massive investments.
It’s doable shopping for and promoting picks again up once more if rates of interest drop, however it’s onerous to say, mentioned Manning. There are too many elements contributing to the Seattle area’s standstill.
“No one is aware of the place the tipping level lies,” he mentioned.
