Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

As DC Area Home Sales Set Records in May, Inventory Drops

  • June 10th 2016

by Nena Perry-Brown

✉️ Want to forward this article? Click here.

As DC Area Home Sales Set Records in May, Inventory Drops: Figure 1

Last month, home sales in the DC area reached ten-year highs for the month of May, according to the latest monthly analysis from RealEstate Business Intelligence released on Friday.

The 5,432 sales that closed during the month are a 12.3 percent increase from last year, and represent the 18th consecutive month that closed sales increased year-over-year. Perhaps more notably, the level of closed sales in May was the second-highest for any month since August 2006. The number of new sales contracts also increased by 3.7 percent year-over-year to set a new record for the month of May.

Meanwhile, the 7,436 new listings that hit the market last month represent a 10 percent drop from last May and a 15.6 percent decrease from last month. Active listings in the region declined year-over-year to 11,072, the first time that inventory has dropped on an annual basis since September 2013.

The drop in inventory held across all categories — listings of single-family homes fell 12.8 percent and condo listings dropped 4 percent. DC proper was the only jurisdiction in the area where inventories actually increased.

Real estate watchers in the DC area felt that housing inventory would turn negative at some point this year. In February, RBI’s Elliott Eisenberg predicted that the cyclical nature would be the cause and pinpointed almost the exact month when it would happen.

“I do not know if it will be in April or May or June, but I bet it will happen by mid-year,” Eisenberg said, anticipating that the cycle of negative inventory could last for 18 months.

RBI defines the DC metropolitan area as including: Washington, D.C.; Montgomery County and Prince George’s County in Maryland; and Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church City in Virginia.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/dc-area_home_sales_set_all-may_highs_while_inventory_dips/11344.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse