The DC Area Is Not Seeing A Surge Of Homes Hit The Market Due To Federal Layoffs

• February 18th

by UrbanTurf Staff

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Reports over the last week have suggested that the DC area housing market is seeing a flood of homes hit the market as the result of layoffs at the federal government. Bright MLS recently did an in-depth analysis and found that, in fact, this is not happening. 

More from Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant below.

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Based on our listing data, we’re not seeing any evidence of a surge of listing activity in the Washington, DC region.

2,829 new listings came onto the market in the two-week period between February 3 and February 16, 2025. This is virtually unchanged from the same two weeks last year when there were 2,820 new listings on the market.

This listing data includes both active listings as well as homes that are “coming soon” and is the best measure of new listing activity in the DC area housing market. We’re simply not seeing any inventory surge.

In some local markets, we do see an uptick in new listing activity but nothing about the geographic pattern of listing activity suggests that it is related to homeowners who are or were Federal government employees. For example, new listings were 27% higher in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, but were 30% lower in nearby Stafford County. Listings were up 7% in Alexandria, but down by 2% in Arlington.

Although the DC area has more federal government workers than any other metropolitan area, these employees make up only 9% of the region's total workforce, according to data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Reductions in the overall federal workforce and back-to-the-office requirements may ultimately have some localized impacts on housing market activity; however, so far, there is nothing to suggest that those changes are having a substantial impact on the broader regional housing market.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_dc_area_is_not_seeing_a_surge_of_new_listings_due_to_federal_layoffs/23196.