Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Real Estate Tide is Changing in DC

Hello friends and clients. Below are a few articles that I wanted to send along to you to keep you informed about what is going on in the economy and how it affects real estate. As many of you may know, our stock market (specifically the DJIA) is at the lowest level in 11 years. While this is bad news for all of our IRA’s it is good news for the Washington DC real estate market and here is why. As with the great depression, in times of economic crises, Washington DC receives a lot of money in fiscal stimulus. Jobs are already coming to DC and a lot more will be created as the government grows to spend this money.

While the US and world economies will continue to experience turmoil for the near future, Washington DC exists in a little snow globe of security since so much of it exists on Federal spending. With over 2 trillion be spent by the government, DC is going to see a lot of that money and by default growth. People will be coming to D.C. where a lot of the jobs will be.

For the local housing market that means increase in demand. It is very likely that the best opportunities to take advantage of the downside of real estate market are dwindling if they haven’t already passed. For sellers that means that brighter times are ahead for you and for buyers it means that now is the time to be looking. Outside of D.C., there are few markets that will be good investments in the near future. If you know someone around the country that is thinking of moving anywhere, I would be happy to talk to them to give them some insight into what is happening. Feel free to have them contact me.

We will be holding a home buyers seminar in the near future where I will be expanding on some of the economic data and providing more details. Please contact me if you would like to attend and please forward this email to anyone you know who is thinking of buying or selling so they can be informed as well. More information to come but here are some interesting articles that illustrate what I am talking about.

While New York Bleeds, Washington Thrives
At the same time Wall Street is losing jobs and prestige, the nation's capital is gaining steam as it ramps up to fight the recession
By Peter Coy

“Look out, New York. Washington is gaining on you.

As the nation's most populous metro area feels Wall Street's pain, the fourth-largest—Washington—is barely sensing the recession. In fact, Moody's Economy.com estimates that metro Washington's economy will actually grow 2.5% from mid-2008 through mid-2010. New York's economy is expected to shrink 4.2%.

It wouldn't be the first time that Washington benefited from a national crisis. Back in 1930 the District of Columbia was a quiet Southern town, scoffed at by New York sophisticates. But as the federal government ramped up to fight first the Great Depression and then World War II, its population grew 65% in two decades, vs. just 14% for New York City.”
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2009/db20090219_655989.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Washington D.C. ranked as the #1 city in the WORLD for real estate investment by Forbes Magazine
http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009012207?OpenDocument

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