Washington, DC Housing Report - January 2009

• February 20th 2009

by Fred Kendrick

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Fred Kendrick of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, with help from Peter Clute of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, puts together a monthly report on the state of the housing market in the District. Following is the most recent installment, which looks at January —

The global financial crisis continued to impact the DC real estate market in January as new contracts on single-family homes, condominiums and cooperatives fell 16% from January of last year and 50% from January of 2007. Condo/co-op sales managed to increase 9% from December’s totals, but 2009 saw the worst January performance for combined homes and units since 1997.

Single-family home sales were down 11% from last year and were more than 50% off the January totals seen from 2000 to 2004. Condo and co-op sales managed to snap a streak of eight consecutive months in decline, but were still off 22% from January of 2008.

The inventory of homes and units was 12% higher than the same point last year. While these numbers haven’t increased much from the second half of 2008, we have the highest end-of-January inventory of single-family homes since 1997, and for condos and co-ops since 1993.

With the low January sales totals, the combined effective inventory (total inventory divided by monthly contracts) of all properties rose to 9.18 months, the highest point since January of 1997. But, to put this number in perspective compared to the last “down” market, from 1991 to 1996 there was an average in access of 10 months of inventory, with the highest points exceeding 20 months on several occasions.

While we won’t report on average and median prices until the end of the first quarter, it is expected that we will see prices decline (especially on the single-family side). Falling prices might be seen as a sign of a weakening market in some parts of the county. But for us they, along with the passage of a stimulus plan in February, could signal the beginnings of a long-awaited recovery.

Prepared by:
Peter Clute — Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage (202-333-6100)
Fred Kendrick — TTR Sotheby’s International Realty (202-333-1212)
Data from the Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/washington_dc_housing_report_-_january_2009/566.