There’s good news for homeowners in the D.C. metro area: According to the latest market reports from the National Association of Realtors, the market is heating up, although slowly. The D.C. metro is currently ranked #124 out of 300 markets throughout the U.S., an 11-spot jump from last month, and a 22-spot jump from this point last year. As a whole, the DMV remains a fairly steady market, though the numbers are shifting slightly. Here’s a quick look at what the DMV real estate market is doing as of Q3 2024.
Time to sell
If you’re on the market trying to sell an existing home, it stands to reason that you’d like your home to sell quickly. However, the latest data found that it may take you a bit longer to sell, with the median days on the market in our region being 37 days. This means homes are taking 6% more days to sell than last year. While that may sound like a bad thing, even with the slightly slower movement, homes in the DMV are selling 16 days faster than homes in the U.S. overall, showing that our market remains strong.
Supply
In our recent mid-year look at the housing reports, we saw a slight improvement in housing supply, with the Association of Realtors map officially marking the DMV as having a sufficient supply.
In the most recent data, that holds true, with 8.7% more single-family-home housing permits being pulled compared to a year ago. This supports the idea that local inventory has stabilized.
Other drivers that impact supply, in particular employment rates, show signs that should continue the positive movement towards supply growth in the region. More specifically, employment has held up over the past 12 months and is on an upward trend. The current unemployment rate in our region continues to fall below the national average, showing resilience in our market, another positive indicator for those looking to buy or sell in the DMV.
Prices remain steady
Looking year-over-year, prices are up across the DMV. The latest reports show a 6% increase in price in Q2 2024, compared to Q2 2023. When looking at the past three years, there’s a cumulative 16.6% increase in home prices across the region. However, growth in housing prices is starting to slow, indicating that while the market remains warm, it isn’t growing in interest at the same rate it has been for the past couple of years. That said, all growth is good growth, and the consistency in numbers should build confidence in homeowners—and those looking to become homeowners—in the D.C. region.
As we look to the end of 2024, we’ll continue to watch the developing data surrounding supply, employment, and days on the market. Interest rates, which have finally begun to fall in recent months, are likely to impact early 2025 market data as well, particularly as we move out of the end of the year, which is traditionally a slower time for real estate sales.
