September Home Sales Below 2013 Levels as Inventory Continues Comeback

• October 10, 2014

by Lark Turner

A home for sale in Capitol Hill.

Continuing a trend from the summer, home sales in the DC area in September were slower than they were at the same time last year, according to a report from RealEstate Business Intelligence released on Friday.

But though sales slowed down, the big picture remains largely good. While closed sales were down 2.2 percent over last year, they were higher than totals in 2010-2012, up 7.2 percent over 2012 and 12.4 percent over 2011. Finally, though median sales prices increased less than one percent across the metro, and new pending contracts decreased from last year, data show that single-family home contracts increased in September for the first time in nearly a year.

Region-wide, the median sales price rose 0.8 percent from $387,000 to $390,000, the highest for September since 2007. In this arena, single-family homes took the only hit, with prices declining 1.6 percent to $475,000. Townhome prices rose the most, increasing 2.4 percent year-over-year.

Inventory was particularly strong in September, reaching its highest level for any month in about three years and bringing with it an 11.7 percent gain in new listings. Per the report:

The consistent gains in new listing activity coupled with a slower sales pace have resulted in continued increases in available inventory versus last year. There were 12,164 active listings to end September, which is the highest total of any month since November 2011. Active listings increased 30.2 percent, or by 2,824 listings, from this time last year. Active listings have now increased from the prior year for 12 months in a row but remain 53 percent lower than their 2007 peak when more than 25,000 properties were listed for sale.

Some other takeaways from the report:

• The days-on-market metric for the region rose nine days, to 26, compared to September 2013, but is still lower than the 10-year average for the month (37 days).
• Falls Church City boasted the biggest growth in median sale price, rising 14 percent to $741,000. In DC, the median price rose 1.1 percent, to $465,000. Alexandria City showed the biggest decline over last year, falling 12 percent from $480,000 to $422,500.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/september_home_sales_still_slower_than_last_years_inventory_comeback/9077