Washington D.C.’s Impressive Housing Recovery

Posted by on Thursday, September 19th, 2013 at 12:48pm.

Following trends for much of the year, housing inventory remained tight in August in Washington D.C. as the housing market here continues to make significant strides toward recovery.

Last month, the average number of days a home was on the market dropped 30% from a year prior, according to the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors. It means this strong sellers’ market shows no signs of abating in favor of buyers any time soon.

Housing inventory in Washington D.C. started to loosen from March to June this year, but supplies have been shrinking the past few months through August to significant lows. Available condo inventory dropped 20.8% in August and single-family home inventory dropped 5.4%.

And while inventory is tight and moving quickly in the District. Condo contracts rose 7% and condo settlement activity saw a 43.6% increase over August 2012 condo activity.

Furthermore, D.C. area real estate prices rose in tandem with the low inventory trends. The average price of a condo rose 6.5% in August compared to August 2012 while single family home prices here increased a 14.3%.

The median condo sales price last year was $385,000. Now? Condos are selling on average for $410,000. All while active condo listings dropped from 698 to 553 last month.

Median single family home prices in the city were $525,000, but they’ve since surged to $600,000.

Perhaps the significant number of new developments in progress in D.C. – as evidenced by the plethora of construction cranes piercing the cityscape skyline – signal some price easing in the next couple years. After all, large scale development projects take years to be approved and plans for these projects have likely been in place during the housing market collapse.

New development means new inventory, which means a less competitive buying environment. For the moment, however, clearly the hot D.C. housing market is still in full swing.

For More Information:

Rock Creek Realty: http://www.rcrdc.com/

Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors: http://gcaar.com/

Slate, D.C. Housing Market Prices: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/12/dc_house_prices_soaring.html

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