Home Price Watch: Cash is King in Georgetown

• May 26, 2015

by Lark Turner

A recently-sold home in Georgetown that went for $3.8 million.

In this week’s Home Price Watch, we head to Georgetown, where prices have continued their gradual rise and a surprising number of homes are being purchased in all-cash transactions.

In the first four months of 2015, there have been 57 home sales in Georgetown, up from 52 last year, a jump in sales volume that’s similar to what we’ve seen in other neighborhoods around DC. But though volume has risen in Georgetown, the types of homes that are selling have changed. Twenty-four of the sales have been condos or co-ops, up from 17 last year, which has helped bring the sales dollar volume — how much money is moving through the market — down 23 percent. The average sales price has also dropped 29 percent, as the median sales price has risen 3.4 percent.

Perhaps the most startling metric for the Georgetown housing market in 2015 are the number of sales that were all-cash transactions. Twenty-five of the 57 homes went to buyers paying all cash, and it’s safe to assume most of these sales weren’t investment deals.

Click to enlarge.

A few more takeaways:

• Homes are spending less time on the market this year than last — 74 days in 2015 compared to 108 days in 2014.
• Twenty-seven of the 57 homes sold this year in Georgetown were under contract within the 10 days of hitting the market.
• Sellers are getting a little more of their asking prices this year than last. The average sold price to original list price ratio rose to 96 percent from 94 percent last year.

For this article, UrbanTurf used housing data for the legal Georgetown subdivision from RealEstate Business Intelligence.

Similar Posts:

• Home Price Watch: The Increasingly Competitive Market in Bloomingdale
• $1 Million is the New Normal in Chevy Chase DC
• Home Price Watch: A 38 Percent Rise in Takoma Park
• Home Price Watch: Petworth, Where Prices Are Up 23 Percent

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/home_price_watch_georgetown_where_cash_is_king_and_prices_keep_rising/9925