DC Home Sales Slow in April As Prices Hit 7-Year High

• May 12th 2014

by Lark Turner

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DC area home sales fell in April compared with a year earlier, according to a new report from RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI) released on Monday. It was the fourth month in a row that sales have dropped on an annual basis, however RBI points out that a good portion of the April decline can be attributed to a drop in distressed sales:

The number of bank-mediated sales peaked in 2010 and has since been declining, falling from 15.1 percent of total sales in April 2013 to 10.7 percent of all sales in April 2014. While this decline is a result of fewer distressed properties in the market, it has also depressed the total number of sales. Closed sales decreased 8.3 percent, or by 350 sales, but non-bank mediated sales only fell by 3.5 percent, or by 127 sales. Bank mediated sales declined 35 percent, or by 223 sales, and accounted for 63.7 percent of the decline in total sales.

The home price and days on market metrics give every indication of a market that remains hot. At $412,500, the median sales price for the area increased on an annual basis for the 27th consecutive month in a row, and hit a seven-year high for the month of April. Homes in Arlington, Fairfax and DC proper continue to move quickly; the average days on market metric was either 9 or 10 days in all three jurisdictions.

Some more takeaways from the report:

• Median sales prices rose the most in Prince George’s County, which has been consistently reporting year-over-year growth in the double digits.
• There were 5,644 new contracts signed in April, 8.5 percent fewer than last year.
• There were 8,871 active listings in the region at the end of April, a 24.5 percent increase over April 2013. Active listings have now increased from the prior year for seven months in a row.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/report_dc_sales_activity_slows_in_2014/8474.