Home sales prices in D.C. and the surrounding area hit new July highs

The value of home sales in the District and its environs keeps climbing. Two new real estate reports say in July the median home sales prices for the city and the D.C. metro region were $592,500 and $470,000, respectively. Each figure represents new highs for the busy month.

The first report, from the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors (GCAAR), finds that July’s median sales price was the highest July level in the past decade and was up 4 percent from last year. “The 792 July sales represented a 6.8 percent decrease versus last year and below the July five-year average of 812,” says GCAAR. “Although the number of new listings decreased 2.2 percent compared to last July, the 1,046 new listings are significantly above the five-year July average of 995.” D.C. is still a “strong seller’s market,” per the association.

Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors

The second report, from listings company Bright MLS, states that the median home sales price for the D.C. region last month was a new record for July, up 3.3 percent as compared with July 2018. “This was the 34th consecutive month of year-over-year price appreciation,” Bright MLS says. “Sales volume across the DC Metro area also showed year-over-year gains, up 4.4% to just over $3 billion.” The overall inventory of 7,901 active listings was at its lowest July level in ten years. It also shrunk 17.9 percent from 2018 and 7.1 percent from June 2019.

Bright MLS

“Escalating prices in the District, where median sales prices were up 4.0% in July, seem to be having a ripple effect in the surrounding areas where more people are looking for lower priced options,” Bright MLS vice president Chris Finnegan noted in a statement. “Many are now looking to areas like Prince George’s County, and this month median sales prices there increased 12.3% - the largest jump in the Metro Area.” He also said that in Northern Virginia, where Amazon is setting up its second headquarters, “homeowners [are] holding onto their homes longer and less properties [are] coming on the market,” showing an “Amazon Effect.”

Singe-family homes in the ZIP code where the headquarters will be located nearly doubled in the median asking price between June 2018 and June 2019, Bright MLS reported last month. Amazon revealed it would establish its new corporate offices in Arlington in November 2018.