Trulia Says: Move to Anacostia

• June 28th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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In honor of Independence Day, the trend watchers at Trulia took a close look at the neighborhood housing market in DC, trying to sniff out affordable finds in seemingly luxe areas as well as higher-end homes in affordable areas.

Rather than looking at median prices, Trulia calculated something called the Home Price Range Index (HPRI), which essentially determines how much more expensive the homes at the top of the market are in comparison to those at the bottom. For example, Trulia found that homes within the 20008 zip code — Kalorama and Cleveland Park — range more widely in price than those in the 20017 zip code, which includes Brookland and Michigan Park. A cool infographic of the HPRI for many of our zip codes can be found here.

Some other interesting tidbits that Trulia pulled out about popular neighborhoods: the range of homes in Capitol Hill is small and pricey, so it’s tough to find affordable options, and 20036, which includes the area south of Dupont Circle, has a surprising number of affordable, though small, homes.

So where are the best deals? Using their metric, Trulia was quite taken with all the neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River:

Situated just across the river from Capitol Hill, the houses in 20020 (Historic Anacostia) are dramatically more affordable. In fact, even better deals can be had next door in 20032 (Congress Heights)—the 90th percentile house here is on par or cheaper than the 10th percentile house in Georgetown (20007)! Nature lovers may want to take a look at 20019 (Deanwood), another affordable area which straddles the SE and NE quadrants. Homes here have a median asking price of $163k. Home to many green spaces, including Fort Dupont Park, this neighborhood has plenty of places to go for a hike. Let’s not forget that both the Orange and Blue lines pass through here, allowing for an easy commute to many other parts of DC…In these zips, we see that there are quite a few homes under $70k!

It’s interesting to see a detached perspective on DC’s housing market. Trulia is based in San Francisco and judged us solely by numbers and, apparently, reality TV — the post repeatedly insists that people actually want to be close to Georgetown Cupcake.

From a distance, the housing stock east of the Anacostia looks like a steal, with the proximity to the center of town, large, affordable homes and green space; it’s no surprise they zeroed in on that area. Of course, while the reputation is slowly changing here, DC residents have a host of perceptions about the neighborhoods east of the river that impact their desire to buy there.

For the full analysis, check out Trulia Trends.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/trulia_says_move_to_anacostia/5716.