Roundup: DC Has Strongest Home Prices in the Country

• April 1st 2010

by UrbanTurf Staff

Here are some stories we came across this week that we think will be of interest:

• DC’s housing prices are more robust than in any other city in the country, according to data in the Case-Shiller Index released this week. Home prices in the DC Metro in January were 78 percent higher than in January 2000. Strong employment and scarcity of land are cited as the reasons. LA and New York ranked second and third, respectively, while Detroit’s housing prices are actually below 2000 levels. (Washington Examiner)

• Mortgage rates edged above the 5-percent mark last week as the federal government wrapped up its program to purchase mortgage-backed securities. The program has successfully kept rates at historic lows for over a year. Now that the program has ended, most analysts expect rates to increase. Last week might be the last time we see rates below 5 percent. (The Wall Street Journal)

• Popular discount airline JetBlue announced plans to start service to Reagan National Airport in November. Initially, JetBlue will offer eight daily flights to destinations on the east coast.

• Global consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton signed a big lease for office space in the Capitol Riverfront. Deals like these are important for the nascent neighborhood, as they bring people and dollars to support retail and grow economic activity. (Washington Business Journal)

• In other progress for the Capitol Riverfront, the neighborhood’s first big townhome development, Capitol Quarter, has officially sold out. We’ll have more on that later today.

• Plans for a giant mixed-use project at the Eisenhower Avenue Metro station in Alexandria will be reviewed by the city’s powers-that-be throughout the month of April. If it gets the green light, the project would include 1,200 apartments across three towers, one of them 31 stories high. It would transform the skyline of the city, according to DCmud, which has the full story.

Finally, here are UrbanTurf’s three most popular posts of the last week in case you missed them:

• DC Buyer: PR Professional Looking for Home With Rental Income
• Time to Buy? DC is Sixth Most Expensive Rental Market in the U.S.
• The Dumont Goes Rental

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/roundup_dc_has_strongest_home_prices_in_the_country/1934.