Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

Was August a Turning Point For the DC-Area Housing Market?

  • September 14th 2021

by UrbanTurf Staff

The regional housing market in August showed signs that things might be returning to the more balanced market that existed before the pandemic. 

The latest report out from Bright MLS finds that pending home sales dropped across the board last month, a sign that in August, a month when homebuyers usually take a break from their search, buyers did just that. However, while sales and showings were down compared to a year ago, they were up noticeably compared to August 2019. 

Pending home sales in the region. Click to enlarge.

"Recall that 12 months ago we were just coming out of lockdown, and households were beyond desperate to improve their housing situation," Dr. Elliot Eisenberg, Bright MLS Economist Advisor, told UrbanTurf. "As a result, it is not surprising to see pending sales slightly weaken. Inventories, while up, remain profoundly low and some semblance of seasonality seems to have returned as children are now more likely to be attending school in-person rather than remotely and so on."

One metric that is still on the rise in most area jurisdictions are home prices. The median home price in the DC area in August was $536,000, up 6.3% compared to a year ago and up 18% from August 2019. Prices rose in every local jurisdiction except for Arlington and Alexandria, with Falls Church and Frederick and Montgomery counties leading the way. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/was-august-a-turning-point-for-the-dc-area-housing-market/18695.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse