The DC Condo Market, Part 5: The Top 20 Fastest Selling Condos

• October 1st 2009

by Will Smith

UrbanTurf and McWilliams|Ballard have partnered to produce a series of articles that look at the new condo market in the DC area over the last 18 months. Below is the fifth and final article in the series. The report upon which this article is based is available for free download here. Also be sure to read:

• The DC Condo Market, Part 1: State of the Market
• The DC Condo Market, Part 2: Rebounding from the Bottom
• The DC Condo Market, Part 3: Where the New Condos Are
• The DC Condo Market, Part 4: The Coming Condo Shortage (Maybe)

Our previous articles about the new condo market in the DC metropolitan area have focused on the trends affecting cities, counties, and neighborhoods throughout the region. For our fifth and final installment in the series, we look at individual condo projects -- specifically, the list of 20 new buildings that sold units fastest during the first half of 2009. Given that the first quarter of this year was perhaps the worst in history for the new condo market, the projects on the list below deserve kudos for figuring out how to sell their units even amidst such soft demand.

As with the other installments in our series, this list is based on an excerpt from Midyear 2009 Washington Metro Area Condominium Market Overview, a report by real estate sales and marketing firm McWilliams|Ballard. That excerpt is available for free download here.

The projects above are ranked according to how many individual units were sold from January 1st through June 30th. While the sales numbers are provided as a range, the ranking is absolute in that every project on the list sold more units than the project below it (except where a tie is noted).

The top 3 projects deserve special mention. The 292-unit K at CityVista at K and 5th NW (map) is one of three buildings in the larger CityVista complex that includes enviable ground-floor amenities like Safeway, Busboys & Poets, and Results Gym. The CityVista complex, which takes up the entire city block, has emerged as something of a hub for the nascent Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood.

West Village of Shirlington is a blended project the includes one and two-bedroom condos, two-bedroom cottages, and three-bedroom townhomes. Located along South Four Mile Run in Arlington (map), it is walking distance to its namesake the Village at Shirlington, one of Northern Virginia's most popular restaurant districts and a regional exemplar of new urbanism.

Jenkins Row is the largest new development in Capitol Hill. Located just across the street from the Potomac Avenue Metro on the Blue and Orange lines (map), the 247-unit project offers a variety of one, two, and three-bedroom units. A brand new Harris Teeter is in the ground floor, and the restaurant-lined Barracks Row as well as DC institution Eastern Market are within walking distance.

An obvious trend among these three properties and the other popular buildings on the list is the amenities they offer either on the premises or within a short walking distance. This isn't much of a surprise, since many condo buyers choose condo living to pursue a more urban, walkable lifestyle. This trend is made even more clear by the fact that 10 of the top 20 projects are within the District. "Of all the remaining new condo inventory throughout the region, 40 percent of it is within DC or Arlington," McWilliams|Ballard director of market research Mark Franceski told UrbanTurf.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_dc_condo_market_part_5_the_top_20_fastest_selling_condos/1362.