For the first time in four years, the average house now sells for a bit below the listing price in Seattle and across the surrounding metro area, another sign that a hectic market has finally calmed down for burned-out buyers.
In most of the country, it’s normal, and even expected, for buyers to negotiate the list price down. But this is Seattle, a place where the asking price had become merely a starting point destined to be bid up.
As recently as May – a time now seen, in hindsight, as perhaps the peak of the market – homes in Seattle were selling on average for 6.3 percent above the list price, according to Redfin. Now, they’re going for 0.6 percent below asking.
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