The Washington metro area’s housing market continues to be a tale of two stories. Prices are strong, but sellers are staying on the sidelines during this coronavirus pandemic, and fewer potential buyers are buying as a result.
The most telling number reflecting the state of the current housing market in the D.C. area is the number of contracts signed to buy a home last month. Pending sales were down 41% from a year ago, and pending sales were down almost 51% in the District itself.
Listing service Bright MLS reports the median price of a home that sold in the Washington region in April was $507,000, the highest median sale price in the past 10 years. What sold did so in an average of just 7 days, the fastest pace of sales in a decade.
The median selling price in April was up 3.5% from March, and up 6.7% from a year ago.
But the number of new listings coming on the market in the Washington area in April was down 26.1% from March, and 37.4% lower than a year ago. Total active listings were down 17.1% from a year earlier.
When it comes to sellers’ prices, they are still getting what they’re asking. The average original list price to actual sales price was 100% in April.
Prince George’s County, Maryland, had a 10-year best month for sales prices, with the median price of a single-family home up 11.7% from a year earlier, at $340,000.
The median price of what sold in Alexandria, Virginia, was up 10% from a year ago to $616,000. In Arlington, the median selling price was up 1.3% to $699,900
Fairfax County’s median selling price in April was $583,200, up 6.8%
The median price in Maryland’s Montgomery County was up 7.8% to $500,000, and the median price in the District was $620,000, up 5.6%.
Below is a snapshot of prices throughout the region, from marketStats by ShowingTime based on listing activity from Bright MLS:
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