February Housing Report: Low Inventory/Foreclosures, High Contract Activity

• March 12th 2012

by UrbanTurf Staff

News out today about the DC area housing market in February sounds very similar to what was reported about the market in January and December: a low inventory of homes for sale and higher-than-average contract activity.

RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI) reported this morning that there were 9,823 active listings on the market in the region in February, down from January (10,095) and the lowest level for the month since 2005. Despite the low inventory, the number of contracts signed for the month were the highest for February since 2007, a 1.9 percent increase over February 2011 and a 7 percent increase over last month. Median home prices for the region were also 6 percent higher than a year ago.

While there may be less to choose from for buyers out there, an optimistic detail from the report that caught our attention was regarding foreclosures:

With 368 active foreclosures representing only 3.7% of the active market (the lowest level since July 2008) and the fewest new foreclosures entering the market since March 2008, pricing continues to stabilize with median sales price up 6.0% over February 2011 levels.

As for home prices in the region, the median sale price for townhouses rose 9.5 percent year-over-year, condo/co-op prices were 6.8 percent higher and detached home prices were up 2.8 percent. (Keep in mind that these statistics include the entire region noted below; for more granular statistics of specific zip codes or areas, click here.)

The area that RBI analyzes includes DC, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church City.

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• Will DC’s Low Housing Inventory Mean Higher Home Prices?

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/february_housing_report_low_inventory_foreclosures/5270.