As the US housing market continues to cool, Seattle has the dubious distinction of slowing faster than any other city in the country, according to an analysis by Redfin that ranked the most populous US metropolitan areas according to the change in numerous housing metrics from February 2022 to August 2022. Those metrics are prices, price drops, supply, pending sales, sale-to-list ratio and speed of home sales.

The 10 markets cooling fastest are almost all either on the West Coast markets or places that became significantly less affordable during the pandemic because they attracted scores of relocating homebuyers. "They're slowing down partly because so many people have been priced out and partly because last year's record-low rates made them unsustainably hot," said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.

Rising mortgage rates have also had an outsized effect on these cities. Consider the typical monthly mortgage payment on the median-priced Seattle home, which costs $775,000: It is more than $4,400 at a 6% mortgage rate. That's up from about $3,300 with the 3% interest rates common at the beginning of the year, Redfin notes.