Area home prices have been moving lower month to month for several months. Now, for the first time since September 2016, the median selling price of homes in the D.C. area is lower than it was a year ago.
Listing service Bright MLS reports the median price in December was $550,000 — down 1.3% from December 2021. Home prices peaked in May 2022, and median prices are now 15% below peak level.
Homes are sitting on the market longer, taking an average 22 days to go under contract in December. That’s 10 days longer than a year ago.
There is now more on the market for potential buyers to look at, with active listings up 30.8% from a year ago, but that is largely because of slower sales and homes remaining on the market longer. The number of new listings coming on the market in December was the lowest in more than two decades.
Considerably fewer contracts to buy were signed last month. Bright MLS reports pending sales were down 35.8%, tracking at the lowest level since 2008.
All this means a slower time for real estate agents. Showings by agents of homes for sale were down almost 39% from this time last year.
What is ahead for the market? Bright MLS expects prices to fall further in the first quarter of the year, but for median selling prices to rise 1.1% for all of 2023.
Below are median selling prices throughout the D.C. region, and the year over year change, courtesy Bright MLS:
