Local Market Update – August 2026
July brought a shift across our four markets: after a year of building inventory and softening prices, every market area moved into balanced territory, with prices staying relatively steady across the board. Buyers, working with more leverage than in recent years, are finding more homes to choose from and taking more time to make decisions. Sellers are seeing that homes priced right and presented ...
Washington climbs to No. 9 in annual state ranking, reversing multi-year slide
After a multi-year slip down the U.S. News & World Report “Best States” list, Washington moved up to No. 9 in latest edition released in late July, edging out last year’s 10th-place finish. It’s not quite back to the No. 2 ranking the state held in 2023, but its trend reversal is good news. U.S. News builds its list using 71 different data points spanning eight categories: healthcare,...
Boeing lands 100-plane order as Everett factory ramps up Max production
Just weeks after Boeing opened a new production line for the 737 Max in Everett, the aerospace giant landed a contract for 100 aircraft from global leasing company SMBC Aviation Capital. The 100 aircraft will add to Boeing’s existing backlog of 4,351 Max jets. Under the purchase agreement, SMBC will buy 60 737 Max 10s and 40 737 Max 8s. The 737 Max 10 is the largest model in the Max line, with a...
Proposed mass-timber building in Bellevue unlike anything else on the block
Downtown Bellevue is about to get a striking new addition to the skyline. Developer Skanska recently released renderings for Bevel, a 12-story office building at 106th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Ninth Place, built primarily from mass timber rather than traditional steel and concrete. City design review is expected to wrap up by late summer. Rather than a typical glass-and-steel tower, Bevel wi...
Local Market Update – July 2026
Inventory continued to grow across all four of our local market areas in June, creating a more balanced environment than we’ve seen in recent years. Compared to June 2025, home prices softened in each market area, and buyers are benefiting from increased selection and more negotiation power. Well-prepared, competitively priced homes continue to attract strong interest, so seller strategy matters...
Seattle’s first office-to-apartment conversion is now leasing
Ivey on Boren has become the first project completed under Seattle’s Office-to-Residential Conversion program. On June 12, developer Holland Partner Group received a certificate of occupancy for the 44 new apartments converted from three floors of vacant office space, joining the building’s existing 406 luxury units. The city launched the conversion program to address two post-pandemic challen...
Kirkland quietly becomes Google’s new Western Washington hub
After Google closed offices in Seattle and Bellevue last year, its Kirkland headcount jumped 47%. City data shows that Google’s Kirkland workforce rose from 3,449 workers in 2024 to 5,076 in 2025. In recent years, Kirkland has grown to become Google’s largest employment hub in the region. More than half of the roughly 8,000 Seattle-area workers the company employs are based in Kirkland. That�...
1,000+ affordable housing units proposed in Bellevue
Under a proposal submitted to the City of Bellevue, the EverGlen Village master-planned senior living community would bring more than 1,000 affordable apartments to the Wilburton neighborhood. This redevelopment is led by Downtown Action to Save Housing (DASH), the affordable housing affiliate of Bellevue-based nonprofit Transforming Age. EverGlen Village would include five mass timber buildings t...
Giving Back: Community Service Day 2026
Each year, Windermere offices set aside a day to step outside the office and give back to the neighborhoods they call home. From sorting donations and packaging meals to painting walls and pulling weeds, the work looks different office to office, but the goal is the same: building stronger, more connected communities. Here’s what some Seattle and Eastside teams accomplished this year, listed...