D.C. Housing Market Offers Slim Pickings

Heather Curtis

WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) People house hunting in the D.C. area haven’t had much to choose from recently, but that got even worse in October 2016 when new listings were down a whopping 20 percent from September according to the research firm MRIS.

Inventory is usually low in October since people looking to move before their kids start school are already settling into their new homes.

“But this year it’s a little bit steeper than past year, and I’m not exactly sure why,” said Andrew Strauch, vice president of marketing for MRIS.

The odd part is, the low supply isn’t driving up prices. The median price stayed at $400,000.

“It looks like people are willing to purchase at a certain price, and even though there might be more offers than would be typical because the inventory is so low, it seems that they’re still not surpassing the price expectation that they’ve got,” Strauch said.

It’s still a seller’s market. People who sold their homes last month got 97 percent of what they asked for, which is typical of D.C. proper.

Looking ahead, Strauch expects prices in the region to maybe increase a few percent and interest rates to go up .

(Photo: CNN)