Housing Inventory Across the Northwest MLS Hit a Decade High This Fall. Why Didn't Spokane's?

On October 6, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported that its service area had more homes for sale in September 2026 than in any September since 2014. Active listings rose 24.5% to 24,965, pending sales fell 15.1%, and months of inventory reached 4.44. That was the highest level since February 2014. Spokane County's report for the same month went the other way. The Spokane REALTORS® September 2026 Market Activity report counted 1,620 active listings, up only 1.3% from a year earlier. Pending sales rose 11.0% to 564, and supply was 3.0 months, slightly tighter than the 3.2 months recorded in September 2025.

From that, Spokane looks like a market that skipped the regional slowdown. Most of that firmness comes from new-construction pricing and from contracts written before mortgage rates climbed, while resale prices barely moved. For a buyer comparing parts of the county this fall, the more useful number is the gap between sub-area medians, which ran past $300,000 in September.

The Price Gain Came From New Construction

The countywide median closed price for September 2026 was $419,995, up 1.2% from $415,000 a year earlier. The same report splits out resale homes on less than an acre, excluding condos and new construction. That median was $411,500, against $410,000 in September 2025, a 0.4% change.

New construction on less than an acre moved more. Its September median was $448,470, up 5.4% from $425,495, on 90 closings. New homes made up a sixth of the month's sales and carried most of the year-over-year price gain.

The year-to-date figures point the same way. Through September 2026, the countywide median was $421,315, down 0.9% from $425,000 for the same period of 2025. The year-to-date average price fell 1.8%. The year-to-date resale median was exactly $415,000 in both years.

So for an existing house on a city lot, Spokane prices have held level for a year. They have not gone up. That matters for anyone weighing a resale home against a new build, a choice covered in more detail in our guide to new construction versus resale in Spokane.

September's Contracts Were Signed as Rates Climbed

Spokane's 11% year-over-year rise in pending sales is the strongest number in the report. The month-over-month figure tells a different story. Pending sales fell from 616 in August 2026 to 564 in September, an 8.4% drop. New listings rose 5.9% over the same stretch, to 846.

Mortgage rates moved during those weeks. According to Freddie Mac's survey as cited by NWMLS, the average 30-year fixed rate was 6.71% on September 3, 7.03% on September 24, and 7.28% in the first week of October. Freddie Mac's weekly archive shows 7.40% on October 8 and October 15, then 7.32% on October 22. September's 536 closed sales came mostly from contracts written earlier in the summer, when rates were lower. September's pending count, which tracks new contracts, is the first Spokane figure that reflects the higher rates.

NWMLS uses a ratio that makes this easier to compare across markets: how many homes go under contract for every 100 new listings. Across its service area, the ratio fell to about 62 in September 2026, down from about 80 a year earlier. Applying the same math to the Spokane REALTORS® figures gives this:

Spokane's September 2026 ratio was better than the year before and better than the NWMLS service-area figure. It was also ten points lower than August. The county is tighter than the wider region, and the pace of new contracts dropped in the month rates rose. The October report will be the first full month at rates above 7%, and it will show whether that drop continues.

The NWMLS October 6 release included an explanation of why prices hold up even as conditions soften. Steven Bourassa, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, told NWMLS:

"Prices tend to rise quickly in a strong market but can be slower to fall when conditions weaken, in part because sellers may have the flexibility to wait rather than accept a lower price."

Bourassa was describing the NWMLS service area, not Spokane County. The local numbers fit his description, though. In Spokane, flat resale prices, higher rates and fewer new contracts all showed up in the same month.

The County Median Covers a $300,000 Spread

Spokane REALTORS® splits the county into numbered MLS sub-areas, and each one has its own September figures. The descriptions below come from the Spokane REALTORS® MLS reference manual, revised in February 2021.

The table leaves out sub-areas with fewer than ten closings. The lowest of those was A612, "S. County E. of Hwy. 195," with a $270,000 median on three sales, $311,000 below A342. Among the larger urban sub-areas, the north side shows the widest range. A330 and A331 are both northwest urban sub-areas, but their September medians were $187,400 apart. A340 and A342 are both northeast urban, and their medians differed by about $281,000. Two buyers each shopping "north Spokane" with the same budget could be looking at two different kinds of house.

The south and Valley figures are closer together, but the pattern holds. A220, the urban southwest area south of I-90, had a $495,000 median on 46 closings. In the Valley, A110 came in at $430,000 and the Flora-to-Liberty Lake stretch at $491,775. For readers looking past the city line, the Five Mile, Mead, Spokane Valley and Cheney pages give the neighborhood context behind these figures.

Several of these rows rest on fewer than 20 sales, so one or two unusual closings can move them a lot. The acreage category shows how much. Spokane County resale homes on one to five acres had a September median of $625,000, down 14.7% from $732,500 a year earlier. The average price in that category rose 6.3% to $787,236. Both figures come from 31 sales. With that few sales, the median and the average can move in opposite directions, so a sub-area with 10 or 16 September closings needs several months of reports before its median says much about price direction.

Reading Spokane's Numbers as a Buyer This Fall

Taken together, the September figures describe a specific market. Resale prices have been level for a year. New-construction prices are higher and moved more. Supply is tighter than across the NWMLS service area, and the pace of new contracts slowed in the month rates passed 7%. A 3.0-month supply still favors well-priced homes. A buyer who saw "prices up" in a headline may find that the resale homes they are touring cost about what they did in fall 2025.

Expired listings point the same way from the seller's side. September 2026 had 234 expirations, down from 272 a year earlier and up from 207 in August. Fewer listings expired than last year, so most homes are still selling. The rise from August suggests that some sellers who priced above what buyers would pay have started to hit that limit. It's the local version of the "downward sticky" pattern Bourassa described.

Our approach to pricing Spokane homes starts at the sub-area level for this reason. A countywide median of about $420,000 sits between areas where September medians ranged from $270,000 to $581,000.

FAQ

Are Spokane County home prices going up or down right now? It depends on the category. The September 2026 median for all homes under an acre rose 1.2% year over year. The resale-only median rose 0.4%, and the year-to-date median through September was 0.9% below 2025.

Is Spokane following the wider Northwest MLS region toward more inventory? Not yet, as of September 2026. Spokane County had 3.0 months of supply. The NWMLS service area had 4.44. Spokane's pending sales fell 8.4% from August as rates rose, so October's report is the next one to watch.

Do the MLS sub-area numbers match neighborhood names? No. They are broad zones. The descriptions in the table come from the Spokane REALTORS® MLS reference manual, and the association's linked area map is labeled 2006. A sub-area like "NW urban N. of I-90" covers several neighborhoods with different housing stock.

If you'd like to see where your own home sits in this spread, Bill Richard and the team can walk through how your sub-area's September 2026 closings compare to the countywide median, and what that suggests about pricing this fall. Start with a free home valuation.