D.c.: The Capital Of Disaster Realty?

Maybe you don't care for the symbolism, but Washington

, D.C., the nation's capital, is fast becoming the capital of "disaster realty" as well. Already given to serious problems for over two decades prior to the current economic mess, the District of Columbia is being brutalized on a scale not seen since the War of 1812! Hyperbole? Well, read on - and keep a box of nasal tissues handy.

Now everyone knows that home sales have fell as credit's dried up on top of an increasingly uncertain job situation for many. The situation holds for condominiums as well. The District of Columbia itself has actually fared the best of all in the region, with median prices rising some eight percent. Perhaps not so surprisingly, some of the biggest increases were posted in the capital's most tony neighborhoods, like Georgetown. But some investors are gambling that once the tax incentives and other government assistance melts away, the banks will unload their inventory of foreclosed properties onto the market, impacting negatively on the relatively robust metro D.C. market. In fact, it isn't just the most astute of real estate speculators who've been wondering what will happen once the government removes itself from the picture.

It continues to be brutal for the D.C. housing market as gains posted during boom-times keep disappearing. But on the other hand, foreclosed properties, as noted in the previous paragraphs, have been selling fairly briskly anyway, so it's questionable whether banks really have set aside enormous numbers of foreclosed homes to take advantage of the government's inevitable departure.

Increases in short sales and foreclosures. Increases in properties coming on the market. But the news wasn't all bad. After all, one man's trash is another's treasure. And so the glut of foreclosed properties triggered a buying spree in some places, especially among the many first-time buyers of Prince William County who finally found prices within their reach. Suburban D.C. has even experienced price drops of up to one hundred thousand dollars!

And that's the general trend region-wide, with falls of around eight percent over previous years, according to publicly available government records. That investors also swooped in to snap up properties is generally taken to be a positive sign, as it reflects a certain confidence in market fundamentals. Indeed, these two groups are like the proverbial canaries in a mine, traditionally signaling trends and shifts - so there's hope yet for D.C., and perhaps the country as a whole as well.

by: Barbra Miller

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