DC Housing Report: Sales Way Up, Supply Shrinking

• December 21st 2009

by Mark Wellborn

In his latest analysis of the DC housing market, Keith Gibbons of DCHousingPrices delivers a fairly succinct message: sales volume is way up compared to last November, and the inventory of homes on the market is tightening. We will highlight a few noteworthy numbers regarding sales volume below, but Keith’s analysis of shrinking inventory is worth a look for anyone looking to buy before the end of the year.

“Every month since May there’s been a 5-6 month supply of housing inventory listed and in November it shrunk to 4.44 months for condos and 5.15 months for months. Both metrics indicate a tightening supply of housing on the market. Yet prices still fall across the board for condos and homes. High demand and less supply don’t normally equate to lower prices.”

Below are two of his comprehensive charts that look at average sales prices and transaction volume in November followed by few highlights that we gleaned from the data.

• Condo sales volume was up a remarkable 118.25 percent compared with November 2008. Home sales volume surged 82.39 percent.

• The average sales price for condos in the District dropped $15,000 from a year ago. For single-family homes, that drop was even more drastic (approximately $40,000).

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc_housing_report_sales_way_up_supply_shrinking/1620.