Year End 2025 Letter

Dear Clients and Friends,

Welcome to 2026! As we closed the door on 2025, it became clear that it was a year defined by adjustment rather than acceleration. Several economic shifts—particularly mid-year—reshaped how buyers and sellers evaluated timing, value, and risk. My goal with this letter is to share the trends I am watching most closely on Bainbridge Island, place them in a broader Seattle-area context, and help you make informed, confident decisions as we move into the year ahead.

Bainbridge Island remains a distinct market within the broader Seattle region—smaller, more personal, and less reactive to short-term noise. As always, my role is to help you interpret the data through a local lens and act with clarity when the moment is right.

If you’d like to discuss how these trends intersect with your own plans for 2026, I’m always happy to talk.

2025 By the Numbers: There were 461 single family homes listed in 2025 with 318 successful sales, and 133 condo/townhome listings with 78 successful sales.

The Average Single Family Home Sale:

2800 sq ft and 1.05 acres. This home sold for 1.622 Million and was on the market for 44 days before taking an offer. 60% of buyers financed their purchase. 42% of these homes received and accepted an offer within the first two weeks.

The Average Condo/Town Sale:

1262 sq ft and sold for $720K. This home was on the market for 56 days before taking an offer. 48% of buyers financed their purchase. 35% of these homes received and accepted an offer within the first two weeks.

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The year showed fairly consistent demand but buyers became much more focused on value. Not surprisingly with a shifting market, much of the pricing started higher in the year and adjusted down as demand changed. That said, we are still getting people contacting us daily with an interest in moving to the island. The buyers are here, but their relationship with value has evolved.

In looking at Single Family Homes specifically, here is how we ended the year. This looks at the end of the year and compares month to month. We did see a significant softening at the end of the year, but in part because many homes that were not attracting the right buyer, moved off market for the holiday.

Single Family Year End

Single Family Sales by Month

Homes for Sales

Number of homes listed for sale, end of month

Homes sold

Number of homes sold

We saw a similar trend with the amount of homes for sale and the rotation through the season but with our days on market increasing, we took on more inventory in the spring and spent the remainder of the year working through that inventory. Inventory did hit a ten year high position in June 2025 but inventory floated back to a more normal balance as the year progressed.

The inventory never got out of hand or put us near correction territory, however it did steadily grow and remained in place through the year which allowed buyers to have a high degree of choice in their touring and selection of a home. The little things mattered more this year– staging, presentation, marketing, diligence and maintenance however the bottom never fell out of the market. We remain a solid, luxury market with steady demand.

Median Price Per Square Foot

Median price per square foot of sold homes

Big Trends in Island Real Estate

Trend One: The Return to Work—and Its Limits

The gradual return-to-office movement continued to influence housing patterns in 2025, particularly across the greater Seattle area. Bainbridge Island experienced this differently. While some buyers recalibrated commute tolerance, most households prioritized flexibility over proximity. Hybrid schedules—typically two to three days in the office—remain dominant. Ferry-served communities like Bainbridge continue to attract buyers seeking access without daily immersion. The result is steady demand rather than the dramatic surges seen earlier in the decade.

Trend Two: Interest Rates and What to Expect in 2026

Rates dominated conversation throughout 2025. After mid-year volatility, buyers and sellers adjusted to a higher-for-longer environment. Locally, the pattern was clear: well-priced homes traded, discretionary sellers paused, and cash or large down-payment buyers gained leverage. Most economists anticipate modest easing rather than sharp cuts in 2026. In a supply-constrained market like Bainbridge Island, rates tend to influence speed more than pricing. Scarcity, lifestyle, and long-term desirability continue to underpin value.

Trend Three: AI and the Local Economy

Artificial intelligence moved from abstract concept to operational reality in 2025, reshaping hiring, productivity, and long-term planning across the tech sector. For Bainbridge Island, this matters. The buyer pool remains closely tied to Seattle’s innovation economy, but with a notable shift: fewer buyers are relocating for a single job, and more are planning for career resilience and are much more thoughtful about affordability in light of the quickly evolving tech market. Homes are being purchased as long-term anchors—places that support evolving work, not just current titles.

Who Is the Bainbridge Island Buyer Today?

Early retirees are arriving sooner than in past cycles, drawn by quality of life, access to healthcare, and the ability to unlock equity while remaining connected to Seattle.

Families continue to choose Bainbridge for schools, community, and the balance of independence and access, often with a longer planning horizon than pre-pandemic buyers.

Climate-motivated buyers—particularly from fire- and heat-prone regions—are increasingly part of the conversation, seeking stability, water access, and temperate conditions.

As this year comes to a close, it’s clear that 2025 asked more of all of us.

Economic uncertainty made forecasting difficult, timing harder to predict, and decision-making more nuanced. For many families, making a move required patience, clarity, and a trusted perspective grounded in real data rather than headlines.

That context makes this year’s work especially meaningful to reflect on.

I was honored, once again, to be named Best Broker and Best Real Estate Team by the Bainbridge Island Review—an acknowledgment made possible entirely by this community and by you. Even more humbling, I closed the year as the #1 Realtor on Bainbridge Island by both units sold and total sales volume. I helped 50+ families make their next step which is amazing.

These milestones matter not as accolades, but as indicators of trust. They reflect the number of families who invited me into one of the most important transitions of their lives and chose partnership over prediction, strategy over speculation.

Leading in this market has required deep local knowledge, disciplined analysis, and a steady hand—particularly in a year when conditions shifted quickly and certainty was elusive. I’m proud of the leadership role my team and I continue to hold on the island, and I remain deeply grateful for the relationships that make that possible.

Thank you for the confidence you place in me, year after year. It’s a privilege to do this work, and an honor to do it within my own community. This job has brought me so many true friendships, wonderful conversations and blessings

— Dana