Weekly Market Update: August 31st through September 6th

Labor Day weekend did exactly what we thought it might do: it put a pretty serious dent in the number of homes coming onto the market.

New listings dropped sharply last week, while buyer activity held up surprisingly well. And with closed sales actually increasing, this looks much more like a holiday weekend slowdown than any sudden change in the direction of the market.

This Week’s Numbers

New Listings: 124 ↓ from 174 last week
Pending Sales: 181 ↓ from 190 last week
Sold Homes: 145 ↑ from 125 last week
Price Reductions: 180 ↓ from 192 last week

Trend Overview

The number that jumps off the page this week is new listings.

Only 124 homes came onto the market, down 50 from the previous week. That’s a nearly 29% drop in just one week.

But context matters.

Labor Day weekend typically isn’t the weekend sellers are targeting to launch a new listing. Between vacations, end of summer plans, kids getting ready to head back to school and the holiday itself, it makes perfect sense that many sellers and their agents would simply wait another week.

What’s much more interesting is what didn’t happen.

Pending sales only slipped from 190 to 181. So while new inventory fell nearly 29%, the number of homes going under contract declined less than 5%.

Meanwhile, closed sales actually increased from 125 to 145.

Price reductions also fell slightly to 180, although that number remains significant compared with the amount of new inventory entering the market.

What This Means for Buyers

If you were hoping Labor Day weekend would suddenly flood the market with new choices, well…not so much.

But I wouldn’t read too much into one holiday week. Some sellers who avoided launching over Labor Day will likely hit the market afterward, so the next week or two should give us a much better indication of where fall inventory is headed.

What remains important is that buyers are still writing offers. With 181 homes going pending against only 124 new listings, demand certainly didn’t disappear over the holiday.

For buyers who have been waiting for the market to slow down, this is another reminder that “slower” doesn’t necessarily mean “nothing is selling.”

What This Means for Sellers

Last week is actually a pretty good illustration of why timing and preparation matter.

There were significantly fewer new listings competing for attention, yet 181 homes still went under contract. Buyers are out there.

At the same time, 180 price reductions tell us that simply being on the market isn’t enough. Homes that are priced appropriately and show well can still attract buyers, while properties that miss the mark are increasingly having to adjust.

As we move out of summer and into the fall market, sellers need to pay close attention to the competition that comes online after Labor Day.

The Bottom Line

Labor Day clearly distorted this week’s new-listing number, so I’m not declaring the great inventory collapse of 2026 just yet.

What I am watching is the relationship between new listings and pending sales.

This week we had 124 new listings and 181 pending sales. Even during a holiday week, buyers continued to absorb available inventory at a healthy pace.

Now we get to see what happens when everyone comes back from the long weekend.

If you’re thinking about buying or selling in South Snohomish County or North King County, reach out anytime. I’m happy to help you make sense of what’s happening in your specific neighborhood and price range.

Bill Jordan
CENTURY 21 Real Estate Center