The D.C. metro area ranks No. 8 in the nation for share of owner-occupied homes worth at least $1 million.
A LendingTree report that ranks the 50 largest metro areas based on census data as reported by homeowners, shows 102,450 owner-occupied homes in the D.C. metro are valued at least $1 million. That’s 7.14% of all homes.
Home values in general have been rising for a decade, but D.C. in particular has some catalysts driving million-dollar homes that not all metro areas do. Median household income is among the highest in the D.C. region. And the area also has a somewhat unique cultural attraction.
“D.C. is the nation’s capital. There is a lot of history there. There are a lot of incentives outside of economic reasons for why people might want to live in that area and why people might be willing to spend a premium to do so,” said Jacob Channel, a senior analyst at LendingTree.
“Not only are there enough people who can afford to spend a million dollars on a home, there are enough people who want to spend that much money,” he said.
The median price of a home that sold in May in the D.C. metro was a record $605,000. There are communities where the median price tops $1 million, such as Georgetown and Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Buyers in that million-dollar range still have traditional lending options. D.C. is among a handful of metros with the highest cap on conforming mortgages, or those that Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac will purchase. In D.C., the cap is $970,800.
“That’s important for a variety of reasons, because a million dollars in D.C. is not necessarily a ton of money for a house. That means there will be a lot of middle-class buyers looking at these million-dollar homes, and because of that they will want the benefits of a conforming loan,” Channel said.
The most expensive home ever sold in the D.C. region was a seven-bedroom riverfront estate on 16 acres near Mount Vernon that sold in October 2021 for $48 million.
The four top metros for million-dollar homes are all in California, such as Silicon Valley for its well-paid tech professionals, and Los Angeles for its high-paying entertainment industry.
LendingTree’s full report on million-dollar homes, and rankings for the top 50 markets, is posted online.
