Is DC's Housing Inventory Shortage Finally Beginning to Ease?

• July 12th 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

The regional housing market in June continued its recent trajectory, with a high volume of sales and record-setting prices exacerbating an already-constrained supply. However, the market in DC proper seems to have reached a tipping point where high prices are resulting in an increased supply of homes for sale for the first time in recent memory.

DC area closed sales in June reached a high for the decade, according to the monthly report out from Bright MLS today, up 3.4 percent year-over-year to reach 6,142 sales. Meanwhile, year-over-year inventory levels declined for the 14th consecutive month in a row.

With these factors at work, the regionwide median sales price sat at $455,000 last month, a slight dip below May’s all-time record, but still the second-highest monthly price over the past 20 years.

The median price in the District followed a similar path, dropping slightly to $590,000 after May’s record of $599,000. Andrew Strauch of Bright MLS thinks this price drop is a good sign and indicative of a shift in the city’s market, wherein the high prices spurned by constrained supply are actually beginning to drive an increase in inventory.

“What’s different in DC versus what you’ve seen over the last couple of years is that the price appreciation is finally driving additional inventory coming into the market,” Strauch explains. “If you take a look at the annual change in new listings in DC, it’s actually up 25 percent year-over-year. And if you take a look at the annual change in overall inventory, it’s up almost 17 percent year-over-year.”

Only time will tell the extent to which an increase in listings will relieve some of the pressure — and priciness — of DC’s housing market.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/is_dcs_inventory_shortage_finally_beginning_to_ease/12783.