New Condo Sales Shoot Up 30% in the First Half of 2019

• September 9, 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

Urban Pace and Christie's Real Estate have released their mid-year condo report, offering an interesting snapshot of and optimistic predictions for the new condo market in the DC region.

While overall condo sales dropped in the DC-area in the first half of 2019, sales for newly-constructed units shot up nearly 30 percent. While sales are up, per square foot prices are down, but this could be because more new product has been introduced to neighborhoods which haven't traditionally had a strong condo pipeline. 

Below are some more numbers that illustrate how the new condo market has fared thus far in 2019:

• 2.9 -- The number of new condo sales per month in the first half of 2019 regionwide. In the first half of 2018, new condos sold at a pace of 2.3 units per month.
• 8.3 -- The number of new condo sales per month in the first half of 2019 in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. On average, these units sold for the high $600s-low $800s per square foot.
• 15% -- The premium paid, on average, for a new condo in Petworth compared to a resale condo constructed or renovated within the past 10 years.
• 70% -- The per-square foot premium, on average, paid for a new condo in Alexandria compared to a resale condo constructed or renovated within the past 10 years.
• 91% -- The per-square foot premium, on average, paid for a new condo in Bethesda compared to a resale condo constructed or renovated within the past 10 years. For this and the Alexandria submarket, new condos sold tend to be luxury units geared toward empty-nesters.
• $574 -- The per-square foot price, on average, for newly-constructed condos in Alexandria in the first half of 2019. During the first half of 2018, these units were selling for $452 per square foot.
• 50% -- The share of condos sold in the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor which had three bedrooms. The other half of the units sold here were two-bedrooms. The other submarkets in this particular study saw negligible or no three-bedroom units among those sold this year, and most tend to have sales skewed towards one-bedrooms.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/fewer-condos-sold-but-more-new-condos-sold-the-condo-market-in-the-first-ha/15853