Sales prices rose in 19 out of 26 counties in the Northwest MLS region, according to the latest report from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS).

The median price across the NWMLS region was $606,111 in February, a 6% increase from February 2023, when the median was $575,000. The highest median sales prices were seen in King ($820,000), Snohomish ($715,000) and San Juan ($671,000) counties.

Meanwhile, new listings increased by 24.5% year over year, with 6,513 properties added to the MLS during the month. Active listings also increased by 3.6% year over year, with 7,495 properties on the market.

“Although seller reluctance has continued to stifle inventory levels, year-over-year inventory levels have improved slightly — an increase of 4% — relative to February 2023,” Mason Virant, associate director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at The University of Washington, said in the report. “Despite the year-over-year transaction volume decline of 2% over February 2023, low levels of for-sale inventory have led to increased competition among buyers, producing a nearly 6% year-over-year increase in median home prices across the Washington counties covered by NWMLS.”

Both pending and closed home sales declined annually. Pending sales decreased by 4.6% year over year, with 5,945 listings going under contract, while closings fell by 1.62%, with 4,189 properties sold. Despite this, closings increased in 10 counties — Jefferson, Adams, Okanogan, Chelan, Kittitas, Walla Walla, Whatcom, Clark, Mason and Clallam — and remained stagnant in King and Pacific counties.

Months of inventory increased to 1.79 months, a 5.3% increase over February 2023, when there was a 1.7-month supply. Inventory was even lower in Snohomish (0.88 months), King (1.47 months) and Pierce (1.6 months) counties.