Redmond just became a meaningfully different city to live in. On March 28, 2026, Sound Transit opened the Crosslake Connection, the final segment of the 2 Line. This completes a direct light rail link from Downtown Redmond across Lake Washington to Seattle. It is the first light rail line in the world to operate on a floating bridge, and it is the piece of infrastructure Redmond residents have been watching get built for years. If you are buying a home here, evaluating a move here, or simply trying to understand what your neighborhood looks like going forward, this is worth your full attention.
What the Full 2 Line Actually Gets You
Before this month, the 2 Line ran between Bellevue and Downtown Redmond. It was useful, but incomplete. The missing piece was the crossing over to Lake Washington. That piece is now in place.
The complete 2 Line stretches 35 miles from Lynnwood City Center through downtown Seattle, across the I-90 floating bridge, through Bellevue, and out to Redmond Technology Station and Downtown Redmond. From Downtown Redmond Station, the trip to downtown Bellevue takes roughly 14 minutes. To the International District/Chinatown Station in Seattle, where you connect directly into the 1 Line, the ride runs approximately 30 minutes. Trains operate every 8 minutes during peak hours.
According to Sound Transit, the full line is expected to carry 50,000 daily riders by 2030. That's more than double the nearly 11,000 daily boardings the partial line was already generating before the Seattle connection opened.
That is not a modest transit expansion. That is a regional infrastructure shift.
How This Changes the Neighborhood Equation in Redmond
Not every part of Redmond sits equally close to the line, and that matters when you're deciding where to focus a home search.
Downtown Redmond is the end terminus of the 2 Line and could be the most transit-accessible neighborhood in the Greater Eastside. The station sits along 166th Avenue NE, surrounded by newer condos, townhomes, parks, and the Sammamish Slough trail. Walkability in Downtown Redmond has been heavily developed over the last decade and the station arrival accelerates that. If your household wants to have the flexible opportunity to primarily use transit, this is the part of Redmond where your daily life could work best.
Overlake anchors the Redmond Technology Station, directly adjacent to Microsoft's main campus. This station is the de facto commuter hub for Eastside tech workers who ride into Seattle, and now riders can make that trip in one seat with no transfers. The Overlake neighborhood offers a mix of single-family homes and a variety of different living options within walking distance to the station.
Marymoor sits at the station just south of Downtown Redmond, along SR 520 near Marymoor Park. The Marymoor Station includes a 1,400-stall parking garage, making it practical for buyers who live a few miles out but want rail access for their commute. The station also has direct trail connections into one of the Eastside's best parks.
Education Hill, Grass Lawn, and North Redmond are Redmond's traditional single-family home neighborhoods. They are established, tree-lined, and further from the rail stations. Buyers who need daily train access or walking proximity should plan their commute from these addresses carefully, because they're driving to a station rather than walking. But these neighborhoods offer space, established schools, and a different rhythm from the transit-oriented downtown core. Both things are true simultaneously.
What the Market Is Doing Right Now
Redmond's market in 2025 was defined by a notable tension: sales volume was up significantly. Redmond posted a 15% increase in sales volume, according to the Windermere Greater Eastside Annual Market Report, while pricing held essentially flat year-over-year. Nearly half of Redmond homes sold within the first 10 days on market.
What that means practically in 2026: this is an active market, not a frantic one. Well-positioned homes sell quickly. Homes that are overpriced or need significant work are sitting longer than they would have in 2021 or 2022, giving informed buyers a legitimate window to negotiate. Redmond is not one market, it is a set of neighborhoods with different pricing behavior, inventory patterns, and buyer demand.
The condo and townhome segment near Downtown Redmond is worth watching specifically. The arrival of the full 2 Line changes the desirability calculus for transit-adjacent living situations in ways that have not yet fully priced in. Buyers looking at that segment in the next 6–12 months are ahead of that repricing.
Schools, Community, and What Doesn't Change
Redmond is served by the Lake Washington School District, Washington's second-largest, and one of its most recognized. The district recently received the state's Award for Educational Excellence. Redmond High School's Philharmonic Orchestra won first place and Grand Champion at a national festival. These are not accidental outcomes; they reflect a district that invests in its students.
What the light rail opening does not change: Redmond's trails, its parks, Marymoor's 640 acres, the Sammamish River, the farmers market on Saturdays, the tech-employer concentration that has defined the city's economy for decades. The transit connection adds a layer without replacing what was already here. That is actually a rare thing in regional real estate: A city that improves its infrastructure without losing what made it appealing to begin with.
Taeya's Take
I say the buyers who do best in the long-term are the ones paying attention to what a city is becoming, not just what it already was. Redmond has been on a clear trajectory for years: more urban, better connected, increasingly desirable to buyers who want proximity to Eastside employers without giving up the feel of a real community. The light rail completion is the punctuation mark on that trajectory. I don't think the people buying here this spring are making a bet. I think they're reading a trend that has been in motion for a long time. If you're evaluating what this means for your specific situation, whether that's buying, already owning, or thinking about what to do next, I'm happy to walk you through what I'm actually seeing on the ground right now.
If you have questions about which neighborhoods are moving fastest, how to position an offer in this market, or just what it's actually like to live close to the new stations, reach out to me at (425) 577-4494 or email at [email protected].
