Record Prices and Paltry Inventory: What a New Report Points to for the DC Area Housing Market

• January 10, 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

The last four months of 2017 were an interesting time for the DC housing market, with the city's home prices abstaining from the larger regionwide narrative of record highs. However, the most recent report from Bright MLS illustrates an area market united in record price increases and paltry inventory in December.

Areawide home prices hit a median of $420,050 in December, a decade-high for the month and an increase of 2.4 percent compared to the same time in 2016. This refrain should seem familiar by now  --  in fact, it was the 15th consecutive month where median sales prices increased.

"In 2017, each month’s median sales price [for the DC area] was higher year-over-year and every month’s median sales price was the highest monthly level of the decade," the report stated. 

In DC proper, the median sales price increased by 2.7 percent to reach $565,000 in December. This price increase is unsurprising considering that there were 10 percent more closed sales in the city than December 2016, as well as nearly 10 percent fewer new listings. For the whole year, DC home prices rose from $545,000 to $550,000 or by just less than one percent. 

If the December market was any indication, inventory, or lack thereof, will continue to be the story in 2018. There were 6,734 active listings on the market in the region at the end of December, down 9.7 percent compared to 2016. December marked the 20th consecutive month in which inventory levels declined in the area, and while levels exceed the 2012 low of 6,466, inventory is down 68 percent from the peak of 21,080 in December 2008.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/2017-ends-with-prices-back-up-and-inventory-back-down-in-dc/13433