January Market Update

Stats pulled from NWMLS, year over year change from January 2025.

Everyone’s favorite question for real estate brokers is “how’s the market?” Broadly, it’s softening and a little weird. Home prices usually show their yearly gain in the spring, so we’re expecting the next few months (February through April) to set the stage for the rest of the year.

January in Kenmore was slow, with only 19 total home sales. Looking at all residential sales together, we see an 8.5% price DECREASE. Statistics are funny, though, since they can tell different stories depending on how you present them.

If we look at individual property types instead of the market as a whole, we get a deeper picture of what’s happening. Single-family homes showed a modest gain in price, and a substantial gain in inventory (number of active listings) and days on market, and the number of sales had decreased. In other words: compared to last January, buyers have more choice and don’t need to feel as rushed to make a decision. Sellers, on the other hand, should plan on waiting a little longer for the sale, and being more conservative in their pricing (it’s still not 2021 again).

With single family homes increasing (albeit modestly) in price, the loss that we’re seeing is led by condos, with the median sale price down 22.3% year-over-year. Condo active listings and days on market were also up, with closed sales down. This seems to be impacted heavily by the 25 Degrees development. We saw a jump in condo prices when they began selling, but the market couldn’t sustain their initial prices. The Anacortes plan, for example, sold for $587k in December 2024, and one closed 2/8/26 for $470k — nearly a 20% drop. Over the last fourteen months, the 25 Degrees development has represented about half of Kenmore’s condo sales (50 out of 103).

Condos have been down across the board, not just in Kenmore, in part because of high HOA costs. In Kenmore, though, I think what we’re seeing is that condos and townhomes are something you choose for location — as our denser housing options, they’re compelling to buyers when accompanied by walkable amenities and community spaces. Giving up your yard when there’s a nearby park, or sacrificing a large kitchen in a restaurant mecca, makes sense. In Kenmore, though, we have a limited number of items on our menu of walkable amenities. If our downtown is able to attract, and keep, more businesses these condos may become more desirable again. The problem is that this is a chicken and egg problem - in order to get more businesses, we need more foot traffic, which comes from density. And, in order to get that density, we need compelling reasons for people to choose it.

** There were no townhomes on the market January 2024, nor were there any sold. Manufactured homes only represented two sales.