DC’s Hillcrest, Deanwood are hottest neighborhoods ‘within reach’

WASHINGTON — Real estate firm Redfin’s new list of the 10 hottest neighborhoods in the country right now are all in California, but two D.C. neighborhoods top a companion list of the hottest neighborhoods “within reach.”

Hillcrest in Southeast D.C., and Deanwood in Northeast D.C. rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation on Redfin’s list.

Redfin used an algorithm, which ranks neighborhoods based on increases in favorites and visits to home listings on Redfin.com, indicating increasing interest in amenity-rich and up-and-coming neighborhoods that are attracting more buyers. For the “within reach” list, it also capped the median price at $286,700, the national median sale price in December 2017.

While that is well below the median sale price District-wide of about $545,000, buyers can get bang for their buck in Hillcrest and Deanwood for considerably less than that.

“It is amazing what you can buy for your money in Hillcrest,” Redfin’s Nela Richardson told WTOP. “Leafy, tree-lined streets and bigger homes. Buyers are attracted to that single-family lifestyle that is commuting distance to downtown.”

The median sale price in Hillcrest, east of the Anacostia River and just south of Pennsylvania Avenue SE, was just $125,000 in December, though 25 percent of homes that sold went for more than list price.

Deanwood, also east of the Anacostia and bound by the Anacostia Freeway and the District-Maryland line, had a median selling price of $248,500 in December, and half the listings that sold in December sold for more than list price.

“Deanwood has a Metro station. It makes commuting downtown really easy,” Richardson said. “And there are some new developments and new businesses coming to this area which is making it more walkable, and that’s really appealing to buyers.”

Those prices are a far cry from Redfin’s hottest housing market right now: Bucknall, in San Jose, California. The median price in that neighborhood is $1.57 million, with 100 percent of listings selling for more than asking price, at an average of nearly 124 percent of list price.

Redfin’s blog lists all 10 of its hottest neighborhoods and hottest neighborhoods within reach.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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