A Look At The Real Estate Market In Dc

When the housing markets in many areas of the county are still slow or stagnant

, it's different story in Washington, D.C., where most measures of real estate performance are strong.Though housing figures are fairly optimistic for D.C., sellers who need to move quickly might not want wait three months or more to sell their property.

Falling inventories

In August, 2011, over $301 billion in real estate was sold in D.C. The median housing price was $399,000, while average sold price was $532,992. Sales are down 2 percent from a year ago, but inventory is also down 22 percent according to Real Estate Business Intelligence. In every housing category except new construction, the supply of housing dropped. For single family homes, there is now a 7.6 month supply as compared to 8.5 months last year, a 10.8 percent drop since last year. Condos, ever popular in D.C., have a 6.4-month supply vs. 7.5 months, down 15.6%. New construction increased by 4.4 percent to a 12.7-month supply.

Based on price point, the supply of homes under $300,000 decreased over 29%, while those between $300-400,000 dropped 15.2 percent. In a different economy, where buyers were comfortable about the economy, they might have stretched into the next bracket a bit. The question is whether good job growth in D.C. and low interest rates will motivate people to start eating away at inventory in the next higher price range.

These figures do not indicate that D.C. buyers will run out of homes to buy anytime soon, but the market is getting more balanced. About 4 to 5 months is considered the divide between a buyer's market and a seller's market. The decrease means that buyers have less choice than they did last year, while sellers have less competition. Homes under $300,000 lost the most inventory.

Three months or more to sell

Homes tend to stay on the market an average of 89 days, compared to 81 days last year. Surprisingly, only homes over $500,000 decreased in the amount of time to sell. Homes in the popular price ranges under $400,000 increased by 10 days or more. Sellers recouped an average of 927 of their asking price, down 1.8 percent since last year.This varied by neighborhood, and homes moved more quickly in locations like Cleveland Park, Kalorama, Columbia Heights, Capitol Hill Southeast, Adams Morgan, Foggy Bottom, and Georgetown.

Though housing figures are fairly optimistic for D.C., sellers who need to move quickly might not want wait three months or more to sell their property.

by: Brad Chandler

POST COMMENT

Suggestions For Making Your Detroit Real Estate Investment Give You The Results You Want Suggestions For Making Your Detroit Real Estate Investment Give You The Results You Want Real Estate Cards: Appreciate Your "junk Mail" Pointers For Making Your Detroit Real Estate Investment Work For You Buying Waterfront Real Estate In Newport Beach How To Save Money When Purchasing Real Estate All The Real Estate Classifieds Philippines Great Properties In The Vail, Arizona Real Estate Market All The Real Estate Philippines Who Are The Real Estate Professionals? Finding The Right Tucson Residential Real Estate How To Look For Real Estate For Sale In Tucson Making Sense Of The Tucson Real Estate Listings