Pull up five real estate sites for Madison Park in the same week and you will get five different numbers for the same word: median. One says the neighborhood's homes are listing around $969,000. Another puts the median sale price at $1.28 million. A third shows $1.6 million. A fourth lands at $2.5 million over the trailing twelve months. A fifth, looking only at detached single-family sales over the last six months, reports a median above $3 million.
None of these numbers is wrong. Each one is measuring something different, and the difference is the story.
Five Numbers, Same Neighborhood, Different Time Windows
Here is what a buyer researching Madison Park finds across these sources:
| Source | Time Window | What's Measured | Reported Figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listing-price aggregator | August 2026 | Median list price, all residential | $969,000 |
| Zip-code market report | Data refreshed July 2026 | Median sale price, full zip code | $1.28 million |
| Monthly sales tracker | February 2026 closings (8 sales) | Median sale price, that month | $1.6 million |
| Neighborhood profile page | Trailing 12 months | Median sale price, all residential | $2.5 million |
| Single-family sales report | Last 6 months | Median sale price, single-family only | roughly $3.08 million |
One neighborhood profile page is the clearest example of the problem in miniature. The same page that reports a $2.5 million trailing-twelve-month median sale price also runs its own affordability calculator off a separate $2.25 million figure. One site, two numbers, same visit.
The spread is not noise from bad data. It comes from three variables that every one of these sites handles differently: whether the figure counts list prices or closed sales, whether it covers one month, six months, or twelve, and whether condominiums are folded into the same pool as detached houses.
The Two Markets Under One Zip Code
Madison Park's housing stock splits into two groups that rarely compete for the same buyer.
The first group is condominium and co-op living clustered along 42nd Avenue E and 43rd Avenue E, where several buildings sit directly on Lake Washington and, in some cases, extend several hundred feet out over the water. Recent activity in these buildings shows the range: a 407-square-foot unit at Lakeview Lanai listed at $350,000, a 943-square-foot unit at Canterbury Shores at $498,000, and a 975-square-foot one-bedroom at Lakeside West that went pending at $739,000 in July 2026. These are the listings that pull a blended, all-residential median down toward the high $900,000s to low $1.3 million range depending on how many condo closings land in that particular month.
The second group is detached single-family housing. The most recent six-month figures put the single-family-only median north of $3 million, with a median house size around 3,290 square feet and roughly $934 per square foot.
Why So Few Sales Can Move the Number So Far
Madison Park's transaction volume is small enough that a handful of closings decide the entire month's median. In February 2026, only 8 homes sold in Madison Park, down from 13 in the same month the year before. Across all residential types, the neighborhood typically sees around 9 sales a month.
New single-family construction barely adds to that pool. Because the neighborhood is fully built out, new single-family homes go up at a pace of just 2 to 3 a year, built on the few remaining vacant lots or on lots where an older home was torn down, and they tend to run 3,500 to 4,500 square feet when they do appear.
Put those two facts together and the mechanism becomes obvious. If one unusually high-priced home closes in a given month, it can shift a small sample's median upward. If a cluster of condo closings lands instead, the number can swing the other way. A neighborhood selling 2,000 homes a year can absorb an outlier closing without much movement. A neighborhood selling roughly 100 homes a year cannot.
Days on Market Tells the Same Story
The same volume problem shows up in how long homes sit. One source pegs Madison Park's days-on-market at 8 days as of July 2026, based on 95 active zip-code listings. Another reports a median of 38 days in August 2026, down 19 percent from the year before. A third, tracking new listings as of late September 2026, found that most homes were sitting a median of 55 days and drawing a single offer.
These are not necessarily contradictory measurements taken badly. They are almost certainly capturing different segments and different points in the sales cycle. A well-priced condo near the beach can move in days. A $6 million estate on a custom lot can sit through an entire season while it waits for the right buyer. Average them together, or measure a different slice of the market, and you get a different number every time.
What This Means If You're Comparing Madison Park to Somewhere Else
If you are cross-shopping Madison Park against another Seattle neighborhood using a single median figure, ask what that figure actually includes before you use it to judge affordability.
If your budget points you toward condo living, the relevant comparison set is buildings like Lakeside West, Canterbury Shores, and Lakeview Lanai, where listings in 2026 have run roughly $350,000 to $750,000 depending on size and water exposure.
If you are shopping detached homes, One July 2026 zip-code report frames interior single-family homes at $1.6 million to $3.5 million in asking price, with lakefront and view properties starting around $4 million and running past $8 million.
There is very little inventory in between. Madison Park does not have a deep middle tier of $800,000 to $1.5 million single-family homes the way some other Seattle neighborhoods do, largely because so little new single-family stock gets built and because most of what exists dates to the 1920s Craftsman and Colonial Revival era, or to the 1950s Canterbury development on its larger lots.
Quick Answers Before You Compare Numbers
Is Madison Park's real median closer to $1 million or $3 million? Both figures are real. The lower number typically reflects a blended pool that includes condos. The higher number typically reflects single-family sales only; the figures can also use different time windows. Neither is more official than the other. They are answering different questions.
How many homes actually sell in Madison Park in a typical month? Roughly 8 to 13 across all property types based on recent months, which is small enough that one or two unusual closings can move the reported median noticeably.
Are there homes under $500,000 in the neighborhood? Yes, in condo buildings near the water, such as recent listings at Lakeview Lanai and Canterbury Shores. Detached single-family homes in Madison Park do not currently fall in that range.
The full data behind these figures, including county-level sales volume and inventory trends across the Northwest MLS service area, is published monthly and worth checking directly if you want the underlying numbers rather than a single blended headline.
If you are trying to figure out which of Madison Park's two markets actually fits your search, a condo, an interior single-family home, or a lakefront or view home, The Shutes Team can walk you through what has closed recently in each segment before you compare Madison Park to anywhere else on your list.
