The number of home sale listings in the D.C. area has risen this year compared to last, according to weekly data reports from realty companies and listing services.
That could be the result of homes taking longer to sell, meaning active listings are lingering. But it could also be the early signs of sellers affected by the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a team under President Donald Trump’s administration tasked with slashing federal spending, often by eliminating jobs.
“We have seen that the market has started to soften a bit. Listing levels have really ticked up significantly when compared to last year in the last few weeks. We’ll want to see more evidence to be sure that things are really starting to shift, but it is starting to look that way,” said Hanna Jones, senior economic analyst at Realtor.com.
Spring is typically when more sellers list their homes, but if government cuts bring an outsized number of sellers to the D.C. region, it could weigh on prices and increase competition for sellers.
But DOGE is not the only force that could negatively impact the D.C. housing market, or, the housing market nationwide.
“This spring feels particularly hard to predict. There is widespread uncertainty around employment changes and tariffs and all types of policies, which could make some would-be buyers and would-be sellers more hesitant to get into the housing market this spring. It feels a little bit scary to make really big financial decisions right now,” Jones said.
The number of active listings in the week of March 8 in the D.C. region was up more than 56% from a year ago, a rising trend Realtor.com has noted in the region since early January. The number of new listings that hit the D.C.-area market was up more than 12% from the year prior, according to RE/MAX.
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