December Price Data
Eastside housing data deserves close attention because the best buyer opportunities rarely announce themselves in real time. Public trend data from sites like Redfin and Zillow is useful for confirming what happened in hindsight, while active broker-level Northwest MLS insight helps track current listing behavior, pricing changes, inventory, and live market activity so buyers can recognize short-lived openings before the broader market fully catches up.
Sammamish's late-2025 price dip created one of the clearest reminders that winter can open short-lived buying windows on the Eastside. According to Redfin-sourced single-family data in the CVA Analytics Seattle dashboard, Sammamish's median sale price fell from $1,685,000 in November 2025 to $1,400,000 in December 2025. That is a month-over-month drop of about 16.9%. Compared with December 2024, when the median sale price was $1,755,000, December 2025 was down about 20.2%. The long-run chart below uses public Redfin-sourced data for transparency and now also shows the rebound that followed. That rebound matters because it reinforces the real lesson: winter softness on the Eastside can be temporary, so buyers need to be ready when it appears.
Sammamish single-family median sale price from January 2019 through the latest available dashboard data. Source visualization: CVA Analytics dashboard using Redfin-sourced data.
Above-List Activity
One monthly median never tells the whole story in a city like Sammamish because the mix of homes sold can change from month to month. But the supporting indicators also pointed to a softer market. In December 2025, only 5.3% of Sammamish single-family homes sold above list price, down from 33.3% in December 2024. The sale-to-list ratio slipped from 100.1% to 96.5%, which means buyers had more room to negotiate than they did a year earlier.
That local shift matched broader market reporting. On December 18, 2025, Redfin said pending home sales "fell 5.8%" and described the market as "tilting toward buyers." On January 15, 2026, Redfin reported that the typical home sold in December for 1.8% less than its final list price, while just 22% of homes sold above list, the lowest December share since 2019. The second chart below shows the longer-run Sammamish pattern for homes selling above list, including the rebound that followed as the market moved toward spring.
Sammamish single-family share of homes sold above list from January 2019 through the latest available dashboard data. Source visualization: CVA Analytics dashboard using Redfin-sourced data.
Why This Matters
For buyers, this is why fall and winter deserve more attention. Inventory is often lower, but competition is often lower too. In a premium market like Sammamish, the best opportunity is rarely a distressed property. More often, it is a strong home purchased with fewer competing offers, better terms, and more negotiating room on price, repairs, or credits before spring momentum builds again.
The Sammamish pattern continued across the Eastside in the weeks that followed. Redmond's January 2026 reset showed an even sharper 21.9% month-over-month price drop, and by February Mercer Island's median had fallen 21.8% — confirming that winter softness was an Eastside-wide pattern, not a Sammamish-specific story.
The Bottom Line
That pattern is not just theoretical. During this stretch, I helped a buyer client close on a Sammamish property at about 20% below list price. That kind of outcome is not common, and it depends on the right property, timing, and negotiation strategy — but it is exactly why prepared buyers should stay ready when winter data starts to soften. (For buyers thinking about the longer-term math behind that kind of decision, purchase price often matters more than interest rate over a long hold.)
This is the kind of interpretation I bring to buyers at CVA Realty Group. Public trend data helps confirm a pattern, but broker-level Northwest MLS insight and live market activity are what identify when leverage is briefly improving. In a market like Sammamish, timing and interpretation can matter as much as the headline itself.
Chandru Swaminathan is a real estate broker licensed with eXp Realty, serving buyers and sellers in Sammamish, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, and across Seattle's Eastside.
Sources
CVA Realty Group - Seattle dashboard (Sammamish single-family): https://seattle.cvarealtygroup.com/?area=seattle&city=Sammamish&propertyType=single_family
Redfin, December 18, 2025 ("pending sales fell 5.8%"): https://www.redfin.com/news/press-releases/redfin-reports-pending-home-sales-fall-6-the-biggest-drop-in-nearly-a-year/
Redfin Housing Market News, January 15, 2026: https://www.redfin.com/news/
Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of eXp Realty.