Market Watch: Condo and Co-op Heavy in the Southwest Waterfront

August 24, 2011
2 Comments

by Keith Gibbons

Residential project in 20024

Housing Market Watch is a weekly feature on UrbanTurf in which Keith Gibbons, the brains behind DCHousingPrices.com analyzes recent MRIS statistics for a specific zip code in the DC region to help paint a picture of the housing market in that area.

In Housing Market Watch this week, UrbanTurf looks at the DC zip code of 20024, which is roughly bordered by the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, South Capitol Street, and Independence Avenue. It’s home to many memorials and parks as well portions of the Southwest and Waterfront neighborhoods. You can find a memorial to the Titanic here (Did you know such a memorial was located in DC?) as well as Arena Stage.

In July, 17 homes sold in 20024. Here is a chart providing a year-over-year comparison of sales volume, median price and average price:

20024 Market Summary

In July, the total dollar volume of sold homes was up 70 percent versus the same month in 2010, and unit sales increased almost 89 percent. The average home price fell 9.84 percent, and the median price dropped about 5 percent. The 20024 zip code is a place where finding a single-family home is a little tough, and that is evidenced by the fact that no single-family homes sold in July, and for the past twelve months, 20024 has averaged 12 condo/co-op sales and just one home sale each month.

Median home sales prices in 20024 since August 2010.

There were 60 listings on the market in 20024 in July — 56 condos/co-ops and 4 houses. All of the condos/co-ops were priced between $100,000 and $600,000, with over half in the $200,000 to $400,000 range. To put the cost of home ownership in perspective compared to the rest of the city, the average home price in July was 49 percent less than the overall city average, and the median sales price was 41.69 percent lower (both stats reflect the condo/co-op-heavy market in 20024). According to MRIS, properties in 20024 sold for 88.6 percent of list price, and at July’s sales pace, there’s a 3.3-month’s supply of condos and co-ops on the market.

Zip code 20024 offers close proximity to many of the Federal government’s offices and the waterfront lifestyle is appealing. But this probably isn’t the area for buyers that want a detached home. Otherwise, its affordable unit prices (relative to the rest of the District) make it an area worth considering when shopping for a condo or co-op. Just be wary that the co-ops in the area can have some pretty high monthly maintenance fees.

Below are charts that provide more detailed statistics of the market in 20024.

Average Sales Price

Unit Sales Volume

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This article is based on custom data provided to UrbanTurf by MRIS, a developer of real estate technology and information as well as the largest multiple listing service (MLS) in the United States.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/market_watch_20024_condo_and_coop_heavy_in_the_southwest/4039

2 Comments

Megan said at 5:30 pm on Wednesday August 24, 2011:
I’ve wearily observed that, after staying pretty steady through the financial crisis, prices seem to have really softened in SW in the last 12-18 months, which seems a bit out of step with the rest of the city. What do you think’s going on with that? Partly that mortgages are harder to get and partly people are sort of riding out the downturn, so the things that are going on the market are more estate sales and unrenovated units and that sort of thing?

PCC said at 7:46 pm on Saturday August 27, 2011:
Given the rather small data set involved, I’d hazard that at least some of softening may be due to product mix—in particular, Waterfront Tower sold out and Potomac Place Tower is doing close-outs, and so sales activity has shifted towards PPT’s lower price points. Your theory about un-renovated units also may be correct, given the inventory that’s out there right now.