In real life, hipchickindc is licensed as a real estate broker in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and as a real estate salesperson in Maryland. Unless otherwise noted, the source of information is Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), which is the local multiple listing system. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
It might seem a bit anticlimactic to be talking 2008 market numbers in February. For what it’s worth, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS) unceremoniously rolled the official numbers out last week. (Agents had until the end of January to update all 2008 listing information, hence the timing). I figured the numbers would still be of interest, so here they are.
First of all, let’s be clear at what we’re looking at. This is Pure DC, people. Most media sources that describe the “Washington DC Metropolitan Area Real Estate Market” are giving you DC, Loudon County, Gaithersburg, with the kitchen sink thrown in, too. Right here we are talking only District of Columbia and all District of Columbia.
You’ve heard, “Location.Location.Location.” The second rule of real estate is that all markets are local. Of course, we could get intensely specific and look at the numerous micro markets within the District. Intuitively, most people get that the Petworth market is different from Georgetown. For a moment, however, let’s step back and look at the overall performance of the residential real estate market for DC as a whole.
Not surprisingly, there was an almost 25% reduction in the dollar volume of settled sales from 2007 to 2008. The total dollar volume of sales declined from $3,988,755,576. to $3,001,913,863. Additionally, the number of units sold (a whole house equals a unit, as does a condo or co-op unit) decreased from 7,422 in 2007 to 5,563 in 2008. That is a 25.05% drop. Average days on market went up from 69 in 2007, to 80 in 2008. Continues after the jump. (more…)
