They saw the Seattle Market on their way down. But could they afford a home there?

Lauren Held and Kyle Frederick didn’t think they could afford to own a home anytime soon, especially in Seattle’s pricey housing market.

Dr. Held, 35-year-old clinical pharmacist and medical science liaison in the field of hematology, was renting a house in Phinney Ridge. He is accompanied by Mr. Frederick, 34-years-old, who is an accountant. The couple liked the area but they lost their enthusiasm when houses around them started to sell last year. “insane amounts over ask,” Dr. Held stated that they had figured they would need to move.

“It seemed way too competitive, with way too much tech money all around us,” She said.

Frederick noticed that many listings were on the market for a long time, sometimes with price reductions, over the summer. According to Redfin data, home prices in Seattle were cooling rapidly due to rising borrowing rates. This dampened demand, and drove the median home price from $820,00 in March 2022 down to $760,000 in September.

The couple, both North Carolina residents, began looking for houses to purchase and hoped it would work out. They approached Katy Roberts from Compass and settled on a budget.

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“The market was softening,” Ms. Roberts said. “But we were still seeing multiple offers.”

They wanted to remain in Seattle, and preferably in Phinney Ridge. “We were living in a neighborhood that was great for walkability,” Dr. Held spoke. “There’s a lake called Green lake. That was kind of our cutoff point.”

They settled on a budget of about $1 million, and Ms. Roberts was able to show them several homes in that range — although she warned them they might have to go a bit higher. Despite the cooling market for pandemics, homes in Seattle were still selling at a higher price than their asking price. “A few homes they were interested in received multiple offers,” She said: “and sold for 10 to 15 percent over list price.”

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