What's Hot: The 4 Projects in the Works Near DC's Starburst Intersection | A 153-Room Aloft Hotel Pitched For Mt. Vernon Triangle
Signs of Hope in the Nation's Housing Market
There now appear to be some good economic signs (we couldn’t resist the photo) in various sectors, including the housing market, after months of bad news, The Washington Post is reporting.
Some of those encouraging signs include:
- Newly issued residential building permits were up three percent in February from January.
- Home sales increased 5.1 percent.
- Government data showed that sales of new single-family homes increased 4.7 percent, the first increase in over half a year.
The Post is also reporting that dropping home prices, low mortgage rates and the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers are all factors that are bringing buyers back into the market.
While that may be good news for the housing sector, the economy on the whole still has a ways to go before it is healthy again. From The Post:
“To be sure, even the most optimistic forecasters said the nation is still deep in recession. Most experts predict that the economy will shrink in the first quarter at an annualized rate of about 5 or 6 percent, similar to the last three months of 2008. The economy continues to shed jobs at a pace of 500,000 to 600,000 a month. And more cuts are likely as businesses, saddled with stockpiles of unsold goods, scale back production.”
This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/signs_of_hope_in_the_nations_housing_market/718.
Most Popular... This Week • Last 30 Days • Ever
In this article, UrbanTurf looks at the estimated annual maintenance costs associated... read »
Another concept has been unveiled for one of DC's most contentious development sites,... read »
The big news in the development pipeline east of DC's H Street Corridor is the resur... read »
Renter demand has continued to push Class A apartment rents in the DC region up this ... read »
A new hotel has been pitched for a development site in Mount Vernon Triangle that has... read »
DC Real Estate Guides
Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market
We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!
First-Timer Primers
Intro guides for first-time home buyers
Unique Spaces
Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro