In case you are new to the Washington area, let me tell you this about our real estate market: It’s slow. Yes, it is doing a lot better than most of the country. But most of you live here, and this market is the one you care about.
Perhaps the easiest way to get a sense of today’s market is to look at the adjacent fever chart. The lines at the bottom represent 2006 and 2007 home sales. The lines running across the top represent the inventory of homes for sale in 2006 and 2007.
A few years ago, when the market was fast-paced and homes were selling easily, the sales and inventory lines were much closer together than they are now. When the market began to slow in late 2005, the lines grew farther and farther apart.
For area home sellers, the disappointing thing about this year’s sales climate is that sales are lower than last year and inventory is higher. The two lines are even farther apart than they were a year ago.
Of course, real estate is very local. Not only is the Washington market better than most other regions, some area counties are doing vastly better than others.
The bar charts on page F14 give you a sense of how the region’s jurisdictions compare to one another.
The fastest and slowest jurisdictions are both in Virginia. Arlington County is the most-competitive, fastest-selling community in our region. That’s why it is also the area’s most-expensive place to buy a home.
Not far down Interstate 95 is Stafford County — the slowest-selling and least-competitive jurisdiction in the immediate Washington metropolitan area.
But there are worse places to sell a home. Near Stafford is Culpeper County, where sales chances were only 5 percent last month. And homes sold in Clarke County in May had spent an average of 226 days on the market. That’s 7½ months, on average.
— Chris Sicks
Contact Chris Sicks by e-mail (csicks@gmail.com).
The statistics in this story reflect a metropolitan area that includes the Maryland counties of Montgomery, Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Howard, Charles and Frederick; the Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania and Stafford; the city of Alexandria; and the District.
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