Active inventory fell by 32.6% year over year in Seattle last month — that’s among the highest rates of decline in the entire country, according to the RE/MAX National Housing Report.

A year ago, prospective buyers had over 8,000 properties to shop through. Last month, however, active inventory fell to 5,422 properties.

“Housing availability continues to plague the Puget Sound market, with buyer numbers growing month-over-month while the number of homes listing continues to languish,” said John Manning, managing broker at RE/MAX Gateway. “Contributing factors include seller disappointment that their homes have slipped in value since the last market peak and reluctance to trade a low-interest mortgage for current high rates.

“To illustrate, in the current market, a borrower will pay approximately $2,600 more per month to borrow $1 million than they would have in 2021,” Manning continued. “While interest rates haven’t stopped those who need to buy a home, they have certainly discouraged those who already have homes from trading them.”

Meanwhile, in Seattle, sales were down 16.8% year over year, although closings rose 7.2% month over month. Meanwhile, home prices remained stable, with the median price at $686,500.