$360,000 or Less: DC's Ten Cheapest Housing Markets

• June 28th 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

In recent months, UrbanTurf has covered a lot of the housing activity on the pricier end of the market, even spotlighting how much more expensive some of DC's neighborhoods have gotten over the years. Today, we do the opposite by highlighting the city's ten least expensive markets.

To determine the most affordable housing markets, we looked at the legal subdivisions in DC with the lowest median home prices this year. (Neighborhoods were required to have at least 20 home sales this year to qualify.) Randle Heights led the way as the most bargain-friendly neighborhood, with a median sales price of $278,750. Interestingly, prices dropped in this neighborhood east of the Anacostia River by about $30,000 year-over-year, despite the average home here selling for above listing price.

Another interesting case is the neighborhood of Hillcrest, where homes are the second most affordable ($285,000) and the median sales price has also dropped since last year. Despite the neighborhood netting a record-setting sale in 2017, no home has sold for over $800,000 this year; however, with nearly half of sales being all-cash, there may be a greater share of investors buying for flipping opportunities. 

While most of the least expensive neighborhoods are on the east side of the city, downtown's Foggy Bottom and the development-filled Southwest also make the list. However, nearly all of the units selling in these areas are condominiums or co-ops, a factor that goes a long way toward keeping a neighborhood affordable (if not necessarily family-friendly).

As seen with the sales price to listing price ratio in the table above, neighborhoods being inexpensive doesn't mean they aren't competitive. Lily Ponds and Anacostia are among those neighborhoods where homes spend the least time on the market, and homes in half of the neighborhoods above tend to command multiple bids.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/under-360000-dcs-ten-most-affordable-neighborhoods/14172.