Hottest Market in the DC Area? Outside the Beltway

• July 29th 2009

by Will Smith

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More evidence has emerged that the areas in the DC metro that were hit first and hardest by the real estate bubble are now well into a recovery.

Online agency and data-crunching powerhouse Redfin has ranked all the cities and towns in the greater Washington area according to the ratio of sold prices to list prices for the month of June. This ratio is a strong indication of the strength of a particular market. The higher the ratio, the less buyers are able to negotiate prices down.

In total, 101 areas were ranked. When you look at the top of the rankings — that is, where the actual sales price is closest to the list price — it is striking how dominant the Northern Virginia exurbs are. Fifteen of the top 20 are Virginia cities or towns situated outside the Beltway — places like Woodbridge, Herndon, Manassas, Dumfries, Ashburn, and Sterling. These locales were dubbed the “Ring of Fire” in a March 2008 Washington Post article about local foreclosures.

“Drive with [foreclosure specialist] Thompson through the hardest-hit areas of Prince William County — the epicenter of the region’s foreclosure trouble — and the loss of value has been precipitous,” reads an excerpt from the article.

In Redfin’s rankings, only five of the areas saw average sales prices exceed list prices. Three of those five — Triangle, Woodbridge, and Dumfries — are in Prince William County, and a fourth, Manassas Park, is nearby. It is pretty incredible the difference 16 months can make.

A sampling of the rankings is below. The Northern Virginia locations are in red.

Here is the full data set from Redfin.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/hottest_market_in_the_dc_area_outside_the_beltway/1184.