A New Normal Has Arrived in the DC-Area Housing Market

• October 12th 2022

by UrbanTurf Staff

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Falling sales. Homes spending more days on the market. The return of negotiations. That doesn't sound like the DC-area housing market that people have grown accustom to, but it will be what the market will likely look like for the next few months. 

A new report out today from Bright MLS provides a picture of the regional housing market in September, and it is quite different than previous years.

Both closed home sales and new pending sales (homes to go under contract) were at their lowest September levels since 2014. Sales were down most sharply in Loudoun County (-35%), Fairfax County (-31%), and Alexandria City (-35%). On median, homes were spending 15 days on the market, the highest level since the beginning of 2020.

Home prices are still on the rise, but they are not increasing as fast they have been. In September, the median sales price was $532,000, up 3.3% compared to a year ago. While prices rose in most local jurisdictions, those increases were similarly modest to the overall region. 

“The shift in the marketplace accelerated in September, but the overall picture is a little complicated,” said Dr. Lisa Sturtevant, Bright MLS Chief Economist. “Homes are staying on the market longer and buyers have more leverage than at any time since the start of the pandemic to ask for things like inspections and contingencies. But home prices are still rising because inventory is still very tight.”

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/a_new_normal_has_arrived_in_the_dc-area_housing_market/20186.