Barely Over a Month of Supply and Rising Prices Characterize the Petworth Housing Market

• June 5, 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

The story of the DC housing market thus far this year has largely been characterized by a dearth of supply, and as this week's Home Price Watch shows, the Petworth neighborhood is no exception.

Similar to other neighborhoods we've examined this year, Petworth started 2018 off with a huge dip in supply, resulting in a mere three weeks' worth of inventory in January and February. April ended with just under 4.5 weeks of supply, a slight increase but far from a sustainable level.

The lack of supply has somewhat depressed sales in 2018, with 94 homes selling in the neighborhood during the first third of the year, a ten percent drop compared to 2017. Perhaps relatedly, median sales prices are up 9.33 percent over last year, jumping from $562,500 to $615,000. Average home prices for Petworth's most popular property type -- rowhouses with four or more bedrooms -- rose 5.5 percent to $723,243. 

The prevalence, or lack thereof, of condos and condo conversions seems to be having the largest impact on sales, as only 12 condos have sold thus far this year compared to 27 in the first four months of 2017; the number of single-family home sales hasn't changed much by comparison.

While sales volume may have dropped, the market remains pretty brisk. Between 45 percent of homes selling within ten days of being listed, a contract ratio of 1.5 and homes fetching an average of 98.8 percent of listing price, signs indicate that demand and competition has not fallen off much in the neighborhood.

Check out this year's other Home Price Watch features here:

• Home Sales Are Down on Capitol Hill: Buyer Fatigue or Short Supply?
• Home Price Watch: Prices Shoot Up 33% in Trinidad
• Home Price Watch: Competition Reigns in Chevy Chase DC

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/barely-over-a-month-in-supply-and-prices-9-percent-higher-in-petworth/14073