The Pacific Northwest hub where house prices have dipped $48k in a year as the ‘Starbucks effect’ grips area

House prices in Seattle and its surrounding areas have taken a major plunge as Starbucks leads a mass exodus from the state.

Washington’s King and Snohomish Counties saw a drastic rise in vacant homes, resulting in a decrease of up to $48,000 in home prices from April 2025 to April 2026, new data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service revealed.   

It comes as Washington state lawmakers moved ahead with plans to impose a 9.9 percent tax on those who make a household income of more than $1 million beginning in 2029. 

Real estate broker Jeff Costello from Tribeca NW Real Estate told the Daily Mail that the major blow to the tech capital has caused homes to be vacated statewide.

‘We do have a pretty high sales tax, but the legislature and the governor are trying to start an income tax,’ he said. 

‘They started off with what they’re calling a millionaire’s tax, which has caused a stir in the market as well. Like Starbucks has left Seattle.’

The coffee conglomerate is headed for Nashville and Costello said many people are following suit, leaving the seller market to plummet. 

‘They’re going back to where they’re from, or they’re trying to find somewhere more affordable,’ Costello said. ‘I’ve heard Tennessee a lot.’ 

According to the data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, King County’s active inventory increased nearly 30 percent over the last year, rising from 4,472 to 5,863. 

The area’s median home price plummeted from $907,000 to $859,000.

Zillow reported that most homes in King County stay on the market for an average of nine days before they sell.  

Only 28 percent of sales were over listing price, with almost 50 percent selling below asking. 

Just over 60 miles away in Snohomish County, the median home price dropped from $755,500 to $750,000 in a year. Inventory, however, increased by a drastic 58 percent from 1,325 to 2,094.

According to Redfin, homes tend to sell after two weeks on the market, which is an increase from last year. Recent listings sold for at or below the asking price.

Costello told the Daily Mail that divisive politics were an ‘underlying factor’ in the driving force back east. 

Woke democrat Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has ignited controversy after taking office earlier this year.

She dismissed concerns that wealthy residents and employers could leave Washington over taxes, bluntly saying: ‘The ones that leave, like, bye.’

After her election, she decreed that she would not be buying from one of the city’s biggest businesses. 

‘I am not buying Starbucks, and you should not either,’ she said at a union rally for baristas. 

However, after the company announced its relocation plans, Wilson softened her anti-business stance. 

‘Those comments were not productive in the sense that they caused more harm than good,’ she told the New York Times.  

Wilson sparked further controversy regarding open air drug use in public by the city’s large homeless population.

The Daily Mail was in the Emerald City in January as Seattle drug addicts praised  Wilson for allegedly telling cops not to arrest people doing illegal substances on the crime-ridden city’s streets.

Costello said he believes the changing politics is forcing some to pack up. ‘I don’t think that they want to acknowledge that that is a reason why people are leaving, but it’s a topic of conversation with a lot of people.

‘I don’t think a lot of people want to talk about it just because Washington state and specifically King County is somewhat liberal in that sense.’

According to the Seattle Times, buyers jumped at the chance to purchase a home during the pandemic when mortgage rates were at an all-time low. 

Costello said things began to take a turn last summer as people began selling off their pandemic homes. 

Many assumed the market would recover from the influx of inventory quickly, but as circumstances began to change, the seller market only worsened. 

‘At the beginning of this year, it was really kind of like, hey, this isn’t getting better. And then I think the things that are happening in the Middle East, the world affairs are not helping matters because interest rates are still teetering,’ Costello said.

‘I think everybody kind of went into 2026 thinking the housing market would open up and buyers that have been sitting on the sidelines will come out.’

The conflict in Iran has pushed mortgage rates higher, soaring gas prices are squeezing household budgets and concerns over another round of tech layoffs continue to loom over workers employed by Seattle-area giants.

‘We’re a big tech area,’ Costello said. ‘With Microsoft, Amazon and then all the other companies moving in, I think AI has kind of caused some uncertainty…

‘That seems to be their big hot button is like, “I don’t know if I will have a job in two years.”‘

Costello explained that in today’s market, buyers have the ‘leverage’ and sellers must price their homes based on what can be perceived as ‘good value.’

‘When people perceive good value, they’ll move on it,’ he said. ‘And then when there are other people that are interested, then the commotion creates emotion and that’s what happens when people start making offers.

‘Unfortunately, you have some very ambitious sellers that they want to price their house above market value and see how the market works,’ he added. ‘And then the house doesn’t sell.’

However Costello said that although many people have packed their bags, tech professionals are still moving to the area for new jobs and residents are moving within the region. 

‘There’s still a lot of good work here, good-paying jobs here, even though people are concerned about losing their jobs,’ he said. 

The hope is, Costello said, that as more and more people take advantage of the massive inventory, the tides will slowly begin to shift. 

‘Now [buyers] are just, they’re going to take their time because they can, he said. ‘It’s not going anywhere.’

Starbucks is cutting 252 US corporate employees between the coffee giant’s Seattle headquarters and remote positions.

The latest layoffs under CEO Brian Niccol will begin July 17, 2026, and continue through February 2027, according to a state regulatory filing Monday.

The cuts mainly affect support center staff at the downtown Seattle headquarters.

Senior corporate roles are not safe. Financial analysts, legal specialists, and even nine vice presidents are being nixed, Seattle Times reported.

The coffee giant will keep support offices in Seattle and New York, along with its new Nashville hub, where it recently leased most of a shiny six-story office building.