Single-Family Home Prices in DC Rose Fourfold in 25 Years

• May 4, 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

Home price growth 1991-2016

A new analysis out yesterday reveals that over the past 25 years, the value of single-family homes in DC has grown four-fold — nearly twice the appreciation seen in the DC area and in the nation overall.

As District, Measured explains, while this price growth works out to an average annual increase of 5.9 percent (compared to 3.4 and 3.1 percent respectively in the DC area and the U.S.), the lion’s share of the appreciation occurred after 2002.

“When price growth started to pick up after 2002, DC’s increased faster. In the 14 years from 2002 to 2016, DC’s grew 147 percent, compared to 55 percent in the metro area and 36 percent in the US,” the report states. It also helps that the recession had a much more tempered effect on the DC housing market than elsewhere.

Price growth this steep is somewhat misleading when one considers that traditional single-family houses are not the majority of DC’s housing stock. The relatively static supply of single-family homes in the District cannot keep up with the demand for this housing type.

The data for this report was gleaned from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has collected home price information quarterly since 1991.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/prices_of_dc_sfhs_rose_fourfold_in_25_years/12528