Home prices across Snohomish County fell 6% in July while inventory surged to levels not seen in over a decade, giving Everett buyers more negotiating power but leaving sellers to compete for a shrinking pool of qualified purchasers.

The combined median sales price for single-family homes and condominiums in Snohomish County dropped to $719,000 in July, down from $764,000 a year earlier, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service's monthly report covered Tuesday by 425 Business. Active inventory countywide rose 35% year over year.

In Everett specifically, 477 homes sat on the market at the end of July, up 28% from 374 a year earlier, according to a market report by Brandice Raybourn, a broker with Coldwell Banker Danforth on SE Everett Mall Way. The city's average sales price fell 3.6% to $611,893. Fifty-seven listings canceled or expired without selling, roughly one failed listing for every 2.5 completed sales.

Who it affects

The numbers cut two ways. Buyers shopping below $600,000 in Everett saw pending sales double year over year, with homes in that range going under contract in six days and receiving 100% of asking price, Raybourn's data shows. But townhome sellers faced a glut: 79 active listings against just 10 closings, with a 32-day median wait before going pending.

"Everett did not run out of buyers in July," Raybourn wrote in her Aug. 1 report. "Buyers had more choices, so they became much more particular about which homes were worth competing for."

For the broader county, resale single-family inventory (excluding condos, new construction and waterfront properties) reached 1,286 homes as of July 31, the highest level since August 2015, according to Snohomish County agent Joe Frank's monthly analysis. New listings countywide hit 823, up 25.6% year over year.

The rate problem

Mortgage rates are the main drag. Freddie Mac reported the average 30-year fixed rate at 6.66% on July 30, while the Federal Reserve held its target range at 3.5% to 3.75% at its July meeting, citing inflation pressures tied to the conflict in the Middle East. Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, said in the NWMLS report that rates "continued to discourage buyers" and that short-term rate increases are expected later in 2026 and into early 2027, which would push longer-term rates higher as well.

The Seattle-Bellevue-Everett metro unemployment rate stood at 5.2% as of June, up from 4.4% a year earlier, adding another headwind for would-be buyers.

What's next

As of June, Snohomish County had 2.74 months of inventory, still below the four-to-six-month range considered a balanced market. But the direction is clear: sellers are competing for fewer buyers, and homes priced above the entry level are sitting longer.