The Three Charts That Indicate the Spring Housing Market in DC Could Be Competitive

• February 16th 2018

by UrbanTurf Staff

The spring housing market is still a month away, but UrbanTurf dug into a variety of current data metrics that give a sense of what buyers and sellers in DC might be dealing with when the market gets going.

The inventory of homes for sale has been dropping in the District since last fall. In October, inventory stood at 2.18 months, but by last month, the supply had dropped to just about a five-week supply. The standard benchmark for a balanced housing market is six months of inventory. As long as the inventory of active listings in the city remains low, the market will be competitive for buyers. 

The reason for the lack of inventory is illustrated in the second chart above. The ratio of contracts to listings on the market in DC has been rising for the last three months, and in January it rose above 1.0. This means that active listings are receiving at least one contract, and in many cases more. 

The frequent refrain for much of last year was that from one month to the next, home prices in DC were hitting record levels. However towards the end of the year, prices began to level off and in January, albeit a winter month when prices typically dip, the drop off was more pronounced than in years past. Prices will likely rise in February and then again in March, but chances are the market won't be setting records like last year.

Thumbnail photo of home in Georgetown for sale. Courtesy of HomeVisit.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the-three-charts-that-signal-the-spring-dc-housing-market-could-be-competit/13582.