Sweet spot for DC home sales? $1 million to $2 million

Home prices across the D.C. area are holding up heading into the spring housing market, but sales have slowed in general.

Pending sales in February were down 9.5% from a year ago, according to listing service Bright MLS, and closed sales were down 4.1%.

But, higher-end sales are moving more quickly, especially those priced in the $1 million to $2 million range. Homes priced at over $1.5 million make up about 19% of total inventory in the D.C. region, according to real estate firm Long & Foster.

And, there are buyers in that price range.

“They are just more flush. They have stable jobs. They’ve got more income and more assets,” said Corey Burr, of TTR Sotheby’s in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

“They are better suited to manage a mortgage with a higher interest rate. Over the last 15 years, they’ve been able to build up a lot of equity in their current houses.”

Burr cited a sales contract signed last week for a home he listed in Potomac, Maryland.

“It was priced in the $1.2 million range. We had over 30 agent appointments, and we had over 50 people at the open house. It resulted in nine offers at the offer deadline, and we ratified one that had an escalation clause,” he said.

There were 224 home sales in the D.C. metro area in February that sold for $1.5 million or more, an 11.4% increase from a year ago and 41.8% more sales of seven-figure properties than in February 2023.

Overall, the D.C. metro region starts the spring market with strong annual price gains. The median selling price metro-wide in February was $597,000, up 6.6% from a year ago.

New listings were down 2.6%. However, active listings — or those remaining on the market — were up 29.9%, reflecting the increasing time it is taking to sell a home.

Burr, who has been active in the local residential real estate market for more than three decades, said this is shaping up to be a very unusual spring housing market — for both buyers and sellers.

“I’ve never been in a market where there are so many crosscurrents,” Burr said.

“You’ve got the massive changes being brought on by the federal government. You’ve got interest rates still being high. You’ve got the stock market on jitters. But you have a crop of buyers who have been waiting for the opportunity to buy.”

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