D.C. Housing Market Continues to Boom

Washington, D.C. was gearing up for a booming spring selling season before the pandemic hit. Back in March, prices were already increasing and homes were sold in under two weeks, according to the Washington Post. Everything halted in April, but it has been all green ever since. Pending sales in July were up 12% from the year before, median sales prices jumped 13% in one year, and 5% in one month. Homes sold even faster than before, gone in a median of eight days. August experienced a similar rebound.

August saw sales continue to grow, up 12 percent from the prior year. Homes stayed on the market for only a week, as the median sales price rose 11 percent. The limited housing supply continued to shrink, with total active listings down 27 percent.

The regional and national market continues to be boosted by exceptionally low mortgage rates, which increase affordability and entice home buyers onto the market.

Nationally, homeownership was up to 65.3 percent of the population during the first quarter of 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, an increase of 1.1 percent compared with the first quarter of 2019. That means there were 2.7 million more homeowners during the first quarter of 2020 compared with the first quarter of 2019.

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