November 2014 Market Update: DC Metro Contract Activity Increases+Price Gain

DC Metro Overview

Mild increase in contract activity

The November performance of the Washington DC Metro Area housing market continued to follow the patterns seen through most of 2014. Closed sales decreased 1.0 percent from November 2013. While this is a milder increase than in prior months, housing performance in November 2013 was affected by the shutdown of the Federal government in October 2013. Between November 2013 and November 2014, the region’s decrease in closed sales was driven by three jurisdictions: Alexandria City (-11.9 percent), Fairfax County (-9.2 percent) and Montgomery County (-2.3 percent). For the region as a whole, not all property segments had fewer closed sales than last year, and single-family detached home sales increased by 6.3 percent.

The number of contracts signed in November also increased from 2013, rising 1.2 percent. This is the first year-over-year increase for new pending contracts in 12 months and may indicate relatively better performance next month. Active listings continue to rise, but new listings decreased from the prior year for the first time in nine months. All property segments had fewer new listings than last year. The median sales price increased by 1.3 percent, driven by increases in condo properties (+6.0 percent) and townhomes (+0.6 percent). The median sales price of single-family detached homes decreased slightly, by 0.1 percent.

CLOSED SALES

Decrease in total closes sales from last year; increase for single-family homes. In the Washington DC Metro, there were 3,036 closed sales in November. Closed sales decreased 1.0 percent, or by 32 sales, marking the 11^th month in a row of year-over-year declines. However, single-family detached home sales increased 6.3 percent, or by 88 sales, from this time last year. This is the first year-over-year increase for the property segment since December 2013, though it was the only property segment to increase. The number of closed sales of condo properties decreased 4.5 percent, or by 39 sales. Townhomes had the sharpest decrease in closed sales and fell 10.4 percent, or by 84 sales from last year. As compared to last month, the number of sales decreased 19.8 percent, which is a sharper decline than the 10-year average October-to-November change of -6.0 percent.

PRICES

Increase in median sales price for all property segments; highest November-level overall median sales price in eight years. As compared to last year, the median sales price for the region rose 1.3 percent to $405,000. This is the highest November-level since 2006, when the median sales price was also $405,000. Condo properties had the highest growth, rising 6.0 percent. Townhomes had a median sales price that was 0.6 percent higher than last year. The median sales price for single-family detached homes decreased 0.1 percent, or by $500, from last year.

Of the jurisdictions, Arlington County had the highest growth in median sale price and rose 18.4 percent from November 2013. Three jurisdictions had year-over-year decreases in median sales price: Falls Church City (-4.0), Alexandria City (-3.2 percent) and Montgomery County (-1.0 percent).

INVENTORY

First year-over-year dip in new listings in nine months; though inventory remains higher than last year.  Active listings reached their highest November-total since 2011.  There were 10,017 active listings month’s end, which is 21.0 percent more than this time last year.  Active listings have now increased from the prior year for 14 months in a row but are 61.3 percent lower than their 2007 peak.  Active listings for townhomes had the largest growth from last year, rising 29.5 percent.  Active listings for condo properties rose 23.9 percent from last year.  There were 5,461 active listings for single-family detached homes, 17.1 percent more than this time last year.

New listings decreased from the prior year for the first time since February 2014, falling 5.1 percent compared to the number listed last November.  New listings decreased for all property segments.  New listings of single-family detached homes had the sharpest decline, falling 7.8 percent.  New listings for townhomes decreased 3.3 percent and new listings for condo properties decreased 2.3 percent.  At 28 days, the median days-on-market increased by eight days from November 2013.  Despite the increase, it remains lower than the 10-year average November-level of 38 days.

The following market highlights for the Washington, D.C. Metro Area housing markets have been prepared by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI) and is based on November 2014 MRIS housing data.