Six months of East Jefferson County numbers, town by town.
In April I wrote that this market wasn't softening, it was getting honest. Six months later I pulled the numbers again, and the summer bore that out.
This time I pulled every Jefferson County listing that sold, cancelled or expired between April 23 and October 20, 2026, plus everything for sale on October 20. That's 1,035 listings. One caution before the numbers: this update isn't directly comparable with the spring one, which looked at the wider region (East Jefferson, East Clallam, North Mason and West Kitsap). This time it's East Jefferson specifically, with Port Townsend included because a lot of you asked for it.
The County in Four Numbers
332 single-family homes sold in six months (312 through the MLS, 20 sold without being listed)
$603K median sold price
98.3% of the last asking price, at the median
32 days to an accepted offer, at the median (61 on average, pulled up by the ones that sat)
By most measures, that is a healthy market. The other side of the ledger: 102 homes were cancelled or expired without selling. They had asked a median of $657K. The homes that sold went for $603K. And of the 233 homes for sale on October 20, 47% had already cut their price, by a median of 7.2%.
Every price band sold somewhere between 69% and 86% of the listings that resolved. The $400K to $500K band moved the most homes: 67 sold, 11 failed.
Summer Didn't Slow Down
I split the six months in half. From April 23 to July 21, 155 homes sold at a median of $589K. From July 22 to October 20, 177 sold at a median of $610K. More sales, at slightly higher prices, close to asking.
Seven Towns, Seven Different Markets
A county median hides a lot out here. From Port Townsend down the canal to Brinnon is about an hour's drive, and the towns along the way behave like seven different markets. Here they are from north to south.
Port Townsend: the fast one
Port Townsend was the busiest market in the county by a wide margin: 119 homes sold at a median of $545K. It was also the fastest. The typical home had an accepted offer in 24 days and sold at 100% of its asking price. 88% of the listings that resolved ended in a sale, and there were only 2.5 months of supply on October 20, the tightest in the county.
Port Townsend buyers paid the most per square foot of the larger markets, a median of $371, and 46% of them paid cash, the highest share of any town. Nearly every home that sold in town (97%) was on city sewer.
Port Hadlock: attainable and quick
Port Hadlock sold 26 homes at a median of $456K, with the lowest price per square foot in the county at $294. Almost a quarter of the homes that sold went for under $400,000.
It moved nearly as fast as Port Townsend: 27 days to an accepted offer at the median, and 4.2 months of supply, right at the county average. Buyers here leaned on financing more than in Port Townsend: 31% paid cash. Every home that sold in Port Hadlock this period was on septic.
Port Ludlow: the deepest market on the canal
Port Ludlow sold 52 homes at a median of $670K, more than any other town on the Hood Canal side, and almost one in four sold for $1 million or more. Homes here are on the larger side, with a median of about 2,000 finished square feet against roughly 1,650 in Port Townsend, so the price per square foot ($351) sits below Port Townsend's.
It is a slower market. The typical home took 45 days to get an offer, there are 6.6 months of supply, and about a third of the listings came off the market without selling. Nearly half the homes for sale had already cut their price. Homes that sold went for 98.2% of their last asking price but 96.4% of their original one.
Shine: the high end
Shine had the highest median in the county: 19 homes sold at $953K, and nearly half of them (9 of 19) sold for $1 million or more. That is mostly about size. The typical home that sold in Shine had about 2,900 finished square feet, the largest in the county, and its price per square foot ($344) was in line with Port Ludlow's.
The high end takes patience. The typical home took 58 days to get an offer and sold at 97% of its last asking price, 95.3% of its original one. But it sells: 76% of the listings that resolved ended in a sale, better than the Hood Canal side as a whole, and there were 5.1 months of supply. Six of the 16 homes for sale on October 20 had cut their price, and those cuts were the deepest in the county, a median of 12.2%.
Quilcene: small, rural, and slow
Quilcene is a small market, and I'd treat its numbers as a direction rather than a measurement: 10 homes sold, at a median of $523K and $307 per square foot. Four of the ten sold for under $400,000.
It was the slowest town in the county. The typical home took 92 days to get an offer. There were 15 homes for sale on October 20, about nine months of supply at this pace, and 60% of them had cut their price. Only a little over half of the listings that resolved ended in a sale. One in five buyers paid cash, the lowest share of any town, and most of the homes that sold were on a well and septic.
Coyle: too small to measure, worth watching
Coyle is the smallest market in the county. Four homes sold in six months, at a median of $559K, and four were for sale on October 20, three of them after a price cut. That's too few sales to put much weight on any number. Land is where Coyle has more going on: 4 parcels sold at a median of $190K, and 11 were for sale.
Brinnon: the canal's most affordable homes
Brinnon had the lowest median in the county: 27 homes sold at $415K, and nearly half of them (13 of 27) went for under $400,000. Homes are smaller here, a median of about 1,330 finished square feet, so the price per square foot ($331) is close to Port Ludlow's.
The typical home took 48 days to get an offer, and there were 5.1 months of supply. Brinnon sellers gave up more from their original asking price than in most towns: homes sold at 96.8% of their last price but 93.2% of their original one, and 57% of the homes for sale had cut their price. Every home that sold was on septic, and two thirds were on a well.
Brinnon was also the busiest land market on the canal side: 17 parcels sold at a median of $132K, with about nine months of supply against more than a year for the county.
The Hood Canal side as a whole
Put Port Ludlow, Shine, Quilcene, Coyle and Brinnon together and 112 homes sold at a median of $630K and 97.7% of asking. It took about 50 days to get an offer, there were 6.2 months of supply, and about a third of listings came off without selling. That's a slower pace than Port Townsend and Port Hadlock, and a more negotiable one.
Land Is Starting to Look Like a Buyer's Market
Vacant land is where the market has turned most clearly. 65 parcels sold in Jefferson County at a median of $180K, and the typical one sold about 6% under its asking price. There are 147 parcels for sale, which is 13.6 months of supply, more than a year. 43% of them had already cut their price, by a median of 12.5%. Only about half of land listings end in a sale.
Town by town, land is thin enough that I'd only point at a few things. Port Townsend had the most land for sale, 43 parcels against 16 sold in six months, or about 16 months of supply. Port Hadlock had no land sales at all this period: 7 listings came off the market and 7 are still for sale. On the canal side, Brinnon sold the most land (17 parcels, median $132K), Quilcene sold 6 at a median of about $223K with 14 for sale, Coyle sold 4 with 11 for sale, and Shine sold just one, with 12 for sale.
What This Means If You're Buying
There's room to negotiate, and it isn't evenly spread. In Port Townsend and Port Hadlock, a home priced right goes in about a month, at or near asking. Down the canal, from Port Ludlow to Brinnon, there's five to nine months of inventory, and in most of those towns roughly half or more of the homes for sale have already cut their price. On land, there's more than a year of supply.
What This Means If You're Selling
The buyers are here, and they're paying close to asking for homes priced where the market is. They are not engaging with homes priced where the market was. The 102 homes that failed this summer asked a median of $657K; the homes that sold went for $603K. Price from the comparable sales in your own town, not from the county median or from a listing that sat.
Questions about a specific property, or what yours might sell for this fall? Let's talk, or get a free price opinion.
If you're looking at waterfront, my Hood Canal Tideland Owner's Guide is free.
Data: NWMLS, from Kalan Hatton's Matrix pull, October 20, 2026. Jefferson County single-family homes and vacant land, sold, cancelled or expired April 23 to October 20, 2026; active as of October 20. Towns are NWMLS areas: Port Townsend 480, Port Hadlock 485, Port Ludlow 489, Shine 490, Coyle 491, Quilcene 492, Brinnon 493; "Hood Canal side" is areas 489 to 493. Days to an accepted offer run from list date to pending date, MLS sales only. Months of supply compare homes for sale on October 20 with the six-month sales pace. Some cancelled listings may have relisted, so sold and failed shares are approximate. All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Equal Housing Opportunity.