May 19, 20212 min read

dmv housing market update

I often find myself scouring the internet for a hot take on housing market trends, looking for some sign that inventory is going up and prices are going down. I unfortunately have not found this hot take, even as we glide into summer with the hope of more homes going on the market. Our realtor told us that she thinks there is a slight "cooling off" but honestly, I haven't witnessed that myself. We continue to be shocked by the fixer-uppers that are going for 70-100K over asking. But enough complaining, let's look at the trends.

Inventory reached an all-time low in March 2021, hence the crazy prices and the bidding wars.

The good news is that the number of listings are sky-rocketing, past the height of 2020 listings, before the pandemic. So there is some hope. Unfortunately for us, mid-centuries are having a resurgence and are in high demand right now. We had planned to see a home in Hollin Hills last week that went pending within six hours of going on the market. We did not even have a chance to get to the open house as it was canceled.

In Montgomery County, where we have mostly focused our search, contract activity is up 89% from this time last year (which makes sense, since we were in the height of the pandemic last year and going no where...). I think what is really interesting is the days on the market. Last year houses stayed on the market for about 26 days and this year, it's down to 17 days. People are willing to make decisions about homes the day they see them and then are moving rapidly or paying in cash. And even with low inventory, DC saw historic volume in home sales with the highest median price of $516,000 across the metro area and 5,100 homes sold in March 2021, which far exceeds the number of homes sold in March in the last 10 years.