Condos are the most buyer-friendly corner of the county

If you've been priced out of a house on the Eastside, the condo market is doing something the rest of King County isn't — and it's worth understanding before the window narrows.

The gap between houses and condos

June's NWMLS data splits cleanly by property type, and the two halves are not telling the same story:

• Houses: median $999,000, down 4.7% year over year, 3.5 months of supply.
• Condos: median $516,750, down 10.9% year over year, 5.8 months of supply.

Condo prices fell more than twice as far, and there's far more standing inventory relative to how fast units are selling.

What "months of supply" actually means

It's how long it would take to sell every listed home at the current pace. The conventional reading:

• Under 4 months — favours sellers
• 4 to 6 months — roughly balanced
• Above 6 months — favours buyers

At 3.5 months, King County houses still tilt toward sellers. At 5.8 months, condos are at the buyer-friendly end of balanced — the closest thing to a buyer's market in the county right now.

Why this is happening

A few forces are stacking up. Rates in the mid-6s hit condo buyers hardest, because they skew first-time and more payment-sensitive. HOA dues and insurance costs have risen sharply, and that lands on top of the mortgage. And new middle-housing supply — townhomes and multiplexes arriving under HB 1110 and Seattle's upzoning — competes directly with condos for the same buyer.

The entry-point argument

At a $516,750 median, condos sit roughly $480,000 below the house median. For a first-time buyer, that's frequently the difference between owning and continuing to rent. You start building equity, you fix most of your housing cost, and you can trade up later.

For investors, softer pricing plus more inventory means more room to negotiate — though you'll want to underwrite carefully, because Eastside cap rates are compressed and HOA dues eat directly into cash flow.

Four things to check before you buy one

Condos carry risks houses don't, and a soft market is exactly when to be more careful rather than less:

• The reserve study. An underfunded HOA means special assessments land on you. This is the single most common expensive surprise.
• Pending litigation or construction defects. Both can make a unit difficult to finance — and just as difficult to sell later.
• Owner-occupancy ratio. Too many rentals in a building can block conventional and FHA financing for your buyer down the line.
• Dues history and trajectory. Not just today's number, but where it's been heading and why.

Washington gives you resale-certificate review rights on a condo purchase. Use them properly — that's the moment to catch every one of the above.

Is this a window or a warning?

Honestly, it can be either, and it depends on the building. A well-run association in a walkable, transit-connected location at a 10% discount is a genuine opportunity. A building with thin reserves and rising dues is cheap for reasons that won't improve.

The data tells you where to look. Due diligence tells you whether to buy.

Figures: NWMLS Local Market Update, King County, June 2026 (published July 1, 2026).