What Happened To The DC Housing Market During The Last Government Shutdown?

• October 2nd 2025

by UrbanTurf Staff

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The current federal government shutdown will certainly have an effect on the DC-area housing market. To get a sense of how profound that effect could be, UrbanTurf looked back five years to see what happened the last time the government was shut down. 

When the federal government shut down for 35 days in early 2019, the impact on the DC-area housing market was immediate and measurable. As thousands of federal workers and contractors faced furloughs or missed paychecks, buyer confidence took a hit and home sales stalled. 

Closed sales fell by 7.7 percent in the region and 6.2 percent in DC proper. The number of homes that went under contract during the shutdown revealed a home-buying public that pressed pause. Pending sales fell by 10 percent in DC proper, 15 percent in Alexandria and almost 24 percent in Arlington County. 

Regionwide, there were 4.9 percent more new listings on the market compared to January 2018, contributing to a 2.7 percent increase in active inventory over the same period. For DC proper, there were 7.8 percent more new listings and an impressive 23.7 percent increase in overall active inventory.

While activity rebounded once the shutdown ended, the effects lingered. Bright MLS reported that March 2019 sales were down 9.9 percent year-over-year, and active listings fell nearly 10 percent, tightening an already low inventory environment. Despite this, median prices climbed, reaching around $450,000—proof that demand hadn’t disappeared, only been delayed.

It will be several weeks before we know the effect of this shutdown on the market, but in all likelihood, it will look similar to that of 2019 or perhaps even worse. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/what_happened_to_the_dc_housing_market_during_the_last_government_shutdown/23927.