The Return of DC’s Housing Inventory

• April 10, 2014

by UrbanTurf Staff

The porch at 5368 27th Street NW, which recently hit the market.

It has been quite awhile since the area housing market favored the buyer, as demand has long outpaced available homes for sale in the region. But that could be changing.

For the sixth month in a row, the inventory of listings for sale in the DC area increased compared to the previous year, according to a report out from RealEstate Business Intelligence on Thursday.

There were 7,604 active listings in the DC area at the end of March, a 21 percent increase over March 2013. Condo supply rose at the fastest clip, increasing 35.1 percent (or 519 listings), followed closely by townhouses, which rose 34.6 percent or 344 listings.

Prices increased right along with inventory, rising on an annual basis for the 26th consecutive month to $389,900, reaching the highest March level in seven years. Prices rose the most in Prince George’s County, Fairfax and Falls Church. In DC proper, prices were up about 3 percent over March 2013, and in Montgomery County and Arlington, they remained flat.

While inventory and prices headed north in March, buyer activity was still experiencing a bit of a winter hangover. Activity on closed sales and new contracts fell 11.2 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively, compared to last March. It was the third consecutive month that closed sales fell off from the previous year.

“Buyer activity in the region has been subdued over these uncommonly harsh winter months, but is likely to return as spring arrives,” the report noted.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/housing_inventory_returns_to_dc_area_in_march_as_prices_rise/8342