On October 1, 2026, the City of Shoreline approved 45 new townhouse unit lots on a merged parcel at NE 180th Street and 10th Ave NE. The applicant was Greencity Development. A few address numbers south on the same stretch of 10th Ave NE, Greencity Homes is already marketing Grove Pointe, its current townhome community. That means a buyer touring Grove Pointe this fall is looking at a builder's current phase while its next phase, more than four times larger than the nine homes Greencity lists in Grove Pointe inventory, has just been cleared.
Six days later, on October 7, Shoreline Area News reported that the city's median sale price for September 2026 fell 8.7% from a year earlier while average price per square foot rose 17%. The two facts are connected. More of Shoreline's sales are smaller homes, and the townhomes going up near the light rail stations are a large part of that supply. If you are weighing a new townhome here, the citywide median tells you little about what you're paying. Price per square foot, garage count, and the builder's pipeline tell you much more.
What September's numbers actually measured
The Shoreline Area News September 2026 market report shows the split clearly.
| Shoreline, September | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes sold | 40 | 29 | Down 27.5% |
| Median sale price | $832,000 | $760,000 | Down 8.7% |
| Average price per sq ft | $466 | $545 | Up 17% |
| Average size of home sold | 2,194 sq ft | 1,891 sq ft | 13.8% smaller |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 100.09% | 98.5% | About 1.6 points lower |
The report explains the gap itself. Smaller homes tend to sell for more per square foot and less in total, and the average home sold in September was about 300 square feet smaller than a year earlier. It also cautions that with only 29 sales, a few transactions can move the median noticeably.
The year-to-date figures are steadier. Through the first nine months of 2026, the Shoreline median was $822,450, down 3.2% from the same period in 2025. Average price per square foot was $517, down 1.3%. Homes averaged 30 days on market, compared with 26 days a year earlier, and sold at 100.52% of list price, down from 101.84%. So prices have eased only slightly. Homes are taking a few days longer to sell, and buyers have a little more room to negotiate. September's 98.5% sale-to-list ratio gave buyers more room than they had for most of the year.
The region looks similar. In its October 6, 2026 release, NWMLS reported active inventory at its highest level since 2014, up 24.5% year over year, with King County at 4.70 months of supply.
Pricing a new townhome by the square foot
Once the median is set aside, new construction can be compared on the measure that moved. Terrene Homes' RIDGELINE is a 64-home community of three-bedroom townhomes from 1,179 to 1,772 square feet, each with a two-car, EV-ready garage. As of October 12, 2026, Terrene's community page lists three available homesites priced from $699,990 to $784,990.
Two of those homesites are easy to calculate. Homesite 18 is listed at $764,990 for 1,648 square feet, and Homesite 19 at $784,990 for 1,684 square feet. Both work out to roughly $464 to $466 per square foot. That is below Shoreline's $545 average for homes sold in September 2026 and close to the $466 average from September 2025.
These are asking prices compared with closed-sale averages across all home types, so they are not a direct comparison. Still, the point holds. A new three-bedroom with a two-car garage can be listed below the citywide price per square foot while its total price sits near the citywide median. On a per-foot basis, RIDGELINE's asking prices line up with where Shoreline's sold average stood in September 2025.
Grove Pointe can't be calculated the same way. Greencity's community page describes homes of 2 to 5 bedrooms, 2.25 to 3.25 baths, and about 1,532 to 2,229 square feet. Its Washington communities page gives a range of 1,716 to 2,513 square feet and shows "Contact for pricing" instead of a price range. By either measure, the spread in size is wider than RIDGELINE's, and it matters. A larger plan and a smaller plan in the same community can carry very different total prices with similar per-foot pricing. Comparing them by price per square foot shows which one is actually priced higher.
A garage is now a choice the builder makes
The garage line on a spec sheet carries more weight than it used to. Shoreline Ordinance 1043, effective August 18, 2025, eliminated vehicle parking minimums citywide for all uses. It kept design rules for parking that does get built and raised bike parking requirements for new development, including middle housing. Under that rule, the number of parking spaces in a new townhome is a product decision.
The two communities show how much that decision varies. Every RIDGELINE home lists a two-car garage. At Grove Pointe, Greencity says most homes have two-car garages and select layouts have single-car garages. One of those is 18002B, a three-bedroom, 2.25-bath home of 1,606 square feet with a one-car garage. Two homes of similar size and similar asking price can differ by a full parking space. That difference affects how the home lives today and how it compares later when it's listed for resale against neighbors that have two.
The parking rule works together with Shoreline's middle-housing code, adopted as Ordinance 1027 on January 13, 2025. The code lists townhouses among the recognized middle-housing forms. The city's Picture It: Shoreline 2044 page describes those middle-housing amendments as updates made to comply with Washington's House Bill 1110. With both in place, the townhomes being approved now are shaped less by fixed parking ratios and more by each builder's read of demand.
The pipeline behind the phase you're touring
PLN24-0009 is the largest recent approval, but it's not the only one. Shoreline's land-use notice board from spring through fall 2026 lists:
- PLN24-0009: 45 townhouse unit lots in eight buildings on a 55,484-square-foot MUR-35 parcel at 1014–1036 NE 180th St and 18018–18026 10th Ave NE, approved October 1
- PLN26-0055: 19 townhomes and one detached home at 18041, 18049 and 18053 1st Ave NE
- PSS26-0151: 8 unit-lot townhomes proposed at 19614 19th Ave NE
- PSS26-0072: 5 unit-lot townhomes at 15278 6th Ave NE, decided in July
- DEV26-0834: 98 apartments in one mixed-use and two multifamily buildings at 17127 15th Ave NE
A buyer's first concern here is practical. For a home bought in an earlier phase, a newly approved phase on the same street usually means a period of construction nearby. It also means that when the earlier home is resold, it will be compared with brand-new units from the same builder. The new supply may also give buyers some leverage. A builder with 45 approved lots behind its current homes has reason to keep the current phase selling. Since Grove Pointe pricing is available on request, buyers get the current numbers by asking the builder directly.
Greencity's own description of Grove Pointe highlights access to Northgate Station, Green Lake Park, and Interstate 5. Buyers who are choosing these blocks for light rail may also want to judge the walk or bike ride to Shoreline North/185th Street Station, since that station area is where the city's next planning decisions are concentrated.
The dates that matter this fall
- October 22, 2026: Deadline to appeal the PLN24-0009 decision. As a Type C decision, appeals go to King County Superior Court under the Land Use Petition Act. It's also the public comment deadline for the 2026 Comprehensive Plan amendments, which include updates to both station subarea plans.
- October–November 2026: Final supplemental environmental impact statements for the 148th and 185th station subareas are scheduled to be issued.
- November–December 2026: City Council discussion and action on the Planning Commission's recommendation for the station subarea plans and Planned Action Ordinances.
- Early 2027: Consideration of the related development code amendments, on a separate schedule.
The 185th Street update proposes increased development capacity. It also looks at allowing more flexibility for nonresidential uses in the area generally north of NE 185th Street between 1st Avenue and 5th Avenue NE. None of this is adopted yet. A buyer signing a contract this fall is buying ahead of those decisions, not after them.
Quick answers
Did Shoreline home prices drop 8.7% in 2026? The September 2026 median was 8.7% below September 2025, but it was based on 29 sales, and the homes sold were smaller. Through the first nine months of 2026, the median was down 3.2%.
Do new Shoreline townhomes have to include parking? No. Since August 18, 2025, Shoreline has had no vehicle parking minimums, so garage counts vary by builder and by floor plan.
Where can I check what's planned near a specific townhome? The City of Shoreline's public notices for development page lists applications, hearings, and decisions by address, with links to site plans.
Comparing townhomes near the stations goes better when price per square foot, garage count, and each builder's pipeline are lined up side by side. That's the work Tom and Rebecca do with builders every day across Shoreline. To compare Grove Pointe, RIDGELINE, or any other new community against what's coming next on the same street, reach out to Rebecca Mitsui and the team. Contact Us.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
