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Permit activity continues to trend downward across the Seattle metro area.

Through July 2025, King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties collectively issued 3,742 single-family permits, a 7% decline compared to the same period in 2024. Multifamily permitting has slowed even more sharply, with 3,758 units permitted year-to-date, a 37% drop from last year. These figures highlight ongoing headwinds in the housing pipeline at a time when demand remains elevated.

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The winners of the 2017 NAHB Association Excellence Awards were recently unveiled and the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties is proud to announce we have been honored with two awards. 

The country’s largest and oldest local homebuilders association won Best HBA Partnership/Coalition in the HBA Operations category, as well as Best Publication (print or electronic) in the Communications category, the latter for Master Builder magazine. 

The Building Industry Association of Washington, our state-level partner association, also won an AEA for Best Regional Government Affairs Effort for their "Fix Hirst" campaign.

The annual AEA Awards recognize HBAs across the country for their outstanding accomplishments at the state and local levels, as well as HBA executive officers in the field of association management. 

Congratulations to all who helped MBAKS win these distinguished awards! View the full list of 2017 AEA winners.

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By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

The supply of housing inventory for sale in July remained very low in the Seattle market, with 1.13 months’ supply in King County and just 0.73 months’ supply in Snohomish County, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Meanwhile, single-family permits in the Seattle metro area (including King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties) were down 7% and multifamily permits down by 11% in June, compared to the same period last year.

The Office of Financial Management’s (OFM) annual population projections have been released, showing strong continued growth in Washington. The 2020 estimates indicate Washington’s population grew to more than 7.6 million people as of April 1. The Puget Sound region’s population, including King, Snohomish, Pierce, and Kitsap counties, grew by more than 60,800. According to OFM, most of the population change occurred before the COVID-19 crisis.

The Builder's Bulletin is intended to provide a convenient way to track housing in our market and includes information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, State of the Cities Data Systems, Office of Financial Management, and the Washington State Employment Security Department.

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