Who's Buying in the DC Region? Increasingly, It's the $2.5 Million-Plus Crowd

• August 12th

by UrbanTurf Staff

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While the DC region's broader housing market has had a rather flat summer, one segment is keeping closing tables busy: homes priced well above $1 million.

An UrbanTurf review of home sales data from this summer shows that sales under $1 million contracted in July, falling 1% year-over-year, from 3,688 closings in July 2025 to 3,651 this July. That marks a reversal from earlier in the summer — sales below $1 million were still up modestly in May (+4.1%) and June (+1.7%) — but the trend line has been flattening month by month.

Sales above $1 million tell the opposite story. In May, that tier posted 1,333 closings, up nearly 25% from 1,069 a year earlier. Growth held through June (1,312 sales, up 13.3%) and remained positive in July (1,031 sales, up 3.1%), even as the broader market lost steam.

Drill down further, and the momentum is concentrated at the very top. Sales between $2.5 million and $5 million-plus jumped 57% in May, 36% in June, and 45% in July compared to the same months last year. By contrast, the $1 million to $2.49 million band — while still solidly positive in May and June — actually dipped slightly in July. 

In other words: this July, virtually all of the growth in high-end sales came from the $2.5 million-and-up bracket, not the broader seven-figure market. Sales above $5 million alone climbed 40%, while the $2.5 million to $4.99 million segment rose nearly 45%.

Taken together, the data suggests that home sales in the region — which have held up better than many expected given elevated mortgage rates — are increasingly being carried by high-dollar transactions. Buyers with enough cash or equity to compete above $2.5 million appear largely insulated from the affordability pressures weighing on the rest of the market, while sales activity below $1 million, where financing costs bite hardest, has begun to soften.

Photo by Monument Studios. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/whos_buying_in_the_dc_region_increasingly_its_the_25_million-plus_crowd/24887.