The D.C. region’s housing market continues to shift to one more favoring buyers and one becoming more challenging for sellers.
Closed sales throughout the D.C. region in May were down 6.5% from a year ago. Active listings were up 41.6%. Homes that sold in May took an average of two days longer to sell.
But the slowdown is not balanced across the D.C. area, or across property types.
“Really, Northern Virginia and Arlington seem to be holding out the best. District of Columbia condominiums are the weakest,” Corey Burr at TTR Sotheby’s in Chevy Chase said. “Throughout the region, close in, larger, family-sized houses up to about $1.5 million are seeing the most demand.”
The median price of a home that sold in Alexandria last month was 7.9% higher than a year ago. In Arlington County, the median selling price was up 11.5%, according to data from listing service Bright MLS.
The median price in the District was up 2.2% from last May, but the number of closed sales fell 16%, the biggest drop in the region.
For sellers now on the market or thinking about listing soon, Burr said most will need to reset their expectations.
“Many sellers feel as if they are entitled to a certain value, but when the market is changing and correcting, the only thing that matters is what a buyer will pay for a property,” he said. “You almost have to lighten up on expectations about what your neighbors got six, 12 or 18 months ago.”
Burr has a new formula for sellers when it comes to deciding what to list their property for. Think low but expect results if you do.
“In a very good market, you would try to determine what a realistic selling price would be, and you might create a list price about 5% above that,” he said. “A newer strategy in this kind of challenging time is to create that realistic selling price, and then subtract 5% for the list price. We know that buyers will still bid up a property and make very clean offers, but this is a way to better ensure that activity will take place on their property.”
Buyers may be slower to buy, but they are still looking. Bright MLS reports that in May, showings by real estate agents were up 2.3% from this time last year, and pending sales were up 3.5%.
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