Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue housing market 7th least affordable in U.S., report shows

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue’s housing market is the seventh least affordable among the largest U.S. metro areas. And other parts of the state — namely the Olympia, Bellingham and Tri-Cities areas — aren’t faring much better.

That’s according to a recent report from Realtor.com, which compared local incomes to the cost of financing a median-priced home in the 50 largest U.S. metros.

Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst with Realtor.com, said in an email that the problem isn’t only in the Evergreen State.

“Though affordability conditions in Washington state are discouraging, these conditions are not unique to the state,” she said. “Just three large U.S. metros are affordable to median-income-earning locals.”

The affordable trio, per Realtor.com? Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Detroit.

On the opposite, pricier side of the spectrum, three California metros — Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose — are the least affordable in the U.S. They were followed by New York and Boston.

The analysis applied a 30% affordability benchmark to these 50 metros, a financial threshold that allows prospective homeowners to pay 30% of their income for housing and still have money left over for other needs and savings.

But that ideal isn’t a reality at the national level. Median-priced homes with a $440,000 price tag would require 44.6% of the average household’s income, Realtor.com found.

Seattle housing market

In Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, an average homebuyer would need to set aside 56.3% of their earnings to afford a home at the median price. Jones noted that’s nearly double the 30% affordability benchmark.

At $799,000, median home prices in the region are over $300,000 higher than the U.S. median, she pointed out.

Phil Harlan, immediate past president for Washington Realtors and a Thurston County broker, said that the average Pierce County price is about $582,000. So, lumping Tacoma in with Seattle and Bellevue likely drove the Emerald City region’s typical home price down in the report.

Olympia housing market

Although Olympia, the Tri-Cities and Bellingham weren’t included in Realtor.com’s analysis, Jones offered some insight into their markets.

“Unfortunately, affordability in the lower-priced Washington metros of Kennewick-Richland, Bellingham and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is not significantly better than in Seattle,” she said.

A typical home in the Olympia metro hovers around $580,000, according to Jones. To afford that, an average household would need to devote nearly half of their income: 49.8%.

Mitch Dietz, owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty in Olympia, said Thurston County is in a much better position affordability-wise compared with King County. Still, home prices in Thurston County are the highest they’ve ever been, and it only keeps getting worse.

Dietz notes that much of the problem can be traced to a lack of supply. In August 2007, there were more than 2,300 active listings. Today there are 500: “We’ve been under-building.”

Another factor: Buyers are contending with not-great interest rates.

“What it’s doing is it’s keeping first-time home buyers out of the market,” he said, noting that last year the average age of a first-time U.S. homebuyer was 38. “That’s the highest ever.”

Tri-Cities, Bellingham housing markets

Typical houses in the Tri-Cities area cost about $510,000 as of May, Jones said. To afford those digs, someone with a median income would fork over 47.1% of their earnings.

In Bellingham, average listing prices come in at $699,000. A median-earner would need to devote 68.1% of their $82,000 income to handle monthly housing payments.

Harlan coined a nickname for the Bellingham market.

“Sometimes I call Bellingham ‘Olympia North,’ to tell you the truth,” he said. “It’s a town that’s on the water, right, and it’s the hillside slopes and everything — it’s so similar to Olympia.”

WA housing markets

Seattle’s market is defined by its robust tech sector, Harlan said, citing corporate titans such as Amazon and Boeing. It’s also limited in availability of land on which to build given its location by the Puget Sound shoreline, which has led to a vertical-construction push.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord and state-government jobs offer stability in Pierce and Thurston counties, he said, and the same is the case in the Tri-Cities area because of the Hanford site.

Tacoma’s market enjoys fewer condominium opportunities, Harlan says. But Olympia is worse: Condos compose just 1% or 2% of the market there.

The initial rung of the homeownership ladder is missing for first-time homebuyers in those markets, he said.

“And that’s a real challenge, because there’s just not that first step that’s affordable, right?” he added.

Introducing more supply would help ensure median-income earners could afford the median-priced house, Harlan said. He views homeownership as key to building wealth.

“I truly believe that it’s one of the legs of the stool, if not the leg of the stool, that provides the ability for us to build wealth, to become a part of the community, to have better social outcomes,” he said. “I just think it really needs the focus — and it’s not getting the focus that it needs.”

This story was originally published July 5, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue housing market 7th least affordable in U.S., report shows."

Simone Carter

The Olympian

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