September Market Update

The housing activity has cooled slightly  in the Washington metro area as we end September, which follows the typical seasonal market patterns. However closed sales, new pending contracts, and median prices all  remain above September 2011 levels, and in many cases are at multi-year September highs, providing evidence of a stronger market. The median price is the highest September median price in five years, and the number of new contracts in September is the highest in three years. The inventory of active and new listings continues to shrink, which will likely keep prices stable, even as demand slows.

CLOSED SALES
The 3,256 closed sales in September in the Washington DC Metro Area is a 4.7 percent increase from this time last year. All property segments continue to have stronger sales than last year, however the rate of growth has slowed, particularly in the condo market, which at 6.4 percent had the slowest year-over-year growth in six months.  Single-family home sales rose 1.9 percent from this time last year, and townhomes led all property segments with 8.0 percent sales growth from last year.

PRICES
The median sale price remains up from last year and low inventory will likely keep prices stable. At $360,000, the median sale price in the DC Metro Area is 6.5 percent higher than September 2011.The median price dropped $25,000 from last month; however this is in line with seasonal patterns. Most jurisdictions within the region continue to post year-over-year median price gains. Falls Church City leads the way with 12.7 percent growth, followed by Washington D.C. at 9.9 percent. Arlington had a 3.7 percent decline in median sales price from September 2011, which is likely due to a higher percentage of condo sales and a sharp drop in single-family detached sales in September. Region-wide, all property segments have higher median prices than this time last year. Townhomes lead the way, up 10.9 percent. Median prices of condos and single-family detached properties rose 8.0 and 4.5 respectively. Even as demand cools into the fall season, the low inventory of homes for sale will likely keep home prices relatively stable in the near-term.

NEW CONTRACTS
New contract levels remain relatively strong compared to seasonal norms for all property segments.  There were 4,195 new contracts signed in August in the DC Metro Area, up 9.6 percent from the September 2011 level of 3,829. Condos led all property segments in new contract growth, up 18.1 percent from this time last year. New contracts on townhomes also rose, up 13.6 percent from September 2011, which is the strongest year-over-year growth the region has seen on townhome contracts in over a year. New contracts for single-family detached properties increased 3.0 percent from this time last year.

INVENTORY
Declines in active and new listings persist with the lowest number of active townhome listings on record for September.  There were 9,514 active listings in the DC Metro Area at the end of September, 35.7 percent below this time last year. The number of active listings is now more than 6,000 below the 10-year September average for the area. The shrinking inventory continues across all property segments, with townhomes accounting for the largest reduction, down 43.5 percent from this time last year. The 1,723 active townhome listings in the metro housing market represent the lowest September total on record, with region-wide data available back to 1997. New listings in the region are following a similar pattern. The 5,124 new listings entered are the lowest September level since 2000. The persistent decline in homes for sale will likely keep prices stable even as demand slows. The low inventory continues to drive down the median-days-on-market, which was 26 days in September, down 18 days from this time last year.