Are These The Most Competitive Housing Markets in the DC Area?

• May 17th

by UrbanTurf Staff

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Today, with the spring housing market in full gear, we are taking a more granular look at the areas around DC where homebuyers are likely facing the most competition this year.

UrbanTurf uses a few metrics to determine competition level. First, we look at the year-to-date ratios of average sold price to original listing price for homes. The baseline ratio is 100%, so any average above that is an indication that homes are selling at a premium. The second metric we look at is housing inventory, as a low supply of homes breeds more competition.

And the last statistic we analyze is contract ratio, which compares the total number of homes under contract in a given period to the overall number of active listings. A higher ratio signifies an increase in contracts compared to supply. For example, a ratio of 2.0 means there are two listings under contract for every listing that is active.

Five of the most competitive housing markets are places where detached single-family homes are the dominant property type. Leading the way is the Falls Church zip code of 22046 where homes are selling for 103% of list price and there is just a months supply of homes for sale. Chevy Chase DC and the Bethesda zip code of 20816 come second and third on the list, but are nearly as competitive as Falls Church due to low inventory leading to multiple offers on the scarce number of homes for sale.

The DC neighborhood of American University Park is perennially one of the most competitive, and in 2024 that did not change. Rounding out the list with AU Park is the Potomac zip code of 20854.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/are_these_the_most_competitive_housing_markets_in_the_dc_area/22322.