The DC Area New Condo Market Sees Sales Heat Up as Supply Dwindles

• April 26th 2022

by Nena Perry-Brown

A report on the new condo market in the DC region corroborates anecdotal evidence of a strengthening market — and warns of dwindling supply.

Between March 2021 and March 2022, 1,763 new condo units sold in the DC area, an 8.6% increase over the 1,624 units sold in the prior 12 months, according to a new report from Delta Associates. A total of 509 new condos sold in the first quarter of 2022, a 34% increase from the 380 units sold during the same period in 2021.

If there was a jurisdiction that stood out from a sales perspective, it was DC proper. There were 123 contract sales in the city last quarter, almost twice as many sales compared to the first quarter of 2021. The Mideast DC submarket (Shaw, Columbia Heights) led the way with 62 sales, taking over the usual frontrunner Capitol East (Capitol Hill, Southwest) and its 50 sales.

New condo prices dropped about 3% in DC proper over the past 12 months, while prices rose 2.7% in Northern Virginia, and a whopping 24% in Suburban Maryland. However, it does seem that buyers need a little more incentive to purchase new condos nowadays. Concessions as an average percent of sales price rose from 0.3% to 0.7% between 2021 and 2022. 

Tightening inventory may mitigate concessions in the future. The 2,060 new condos that remain unsold on the DC area market now represent 9.4 months of supply, however, that is down from a 15-month supply in the first quarter of 2021. The pipeline is also shrinking, with 1,207 new construction starts expected in 2022 compared to 1,351 in 2021; projected deliveries are also down to 944 from 1,766.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the-dc-area-new-condo-market-sees-sales-heat-up/19564.