August was a banner month for Washington D.C. real estate, according to a new market report. Hitting multiple records, August saw rising prices and climbing sales in both the D.C. and Baltimore metro areas, a new report from MRIS says.
In Washington D.C., home sales and new contracts reached their highest points for August in a decade, MRIS says, as trends continue to move their way upward. In August 2016, the median sales price was reported at $420,750, representing a 2.4 percent uptick. This figure marks MRIS’s highest reported price tag since 2007.
Compared with August of last year, the sales volume in the D.C. metro is up 16.1 percent to $2.6 billion. August closed sales reached 5,089 in the metro, representing an annual rise of 12.7 percent — the highest level hit since August 2006, according to the report.
Breaking down the median sales price by jurisdiction, August’s largest annual rise was reported in Falls Church City. The region had a reported 40.2 percent increase for the month and a year-to-date increase of 14.7 percent.
Virginia cities Arlington and Alexandria both had annual declining median price trends of 0.7 percent and 16 percent, respectively, in August. D.C. itself had a reported 10.6 percent year-over-year increase during that month.
Looking at sales, Alexandria saw an 8.1 percent dip in August year-over-year. Again, the biggest uptick was reported in Falls Church City, which had a 40 percent uptick.
The median days on market in the D.C. metro in August was 22 days, which is three days lower than the same time last year and five days lower from the previous month.
Trends in Baltimore real estate
Baltimore saw a median sales price increase of 2 percent in August compared with the same month in 2015, bringing the price tag to an eight-year high of $255,000. Sales volume in the metro area also climbed in August by 14.5 percent, totaling $1.1 billion.
Although pending contracts were on the rise in the Baltimore metro, active listings fell.
Closed sales were up 13 percent in August 2016 compared with the previous year, to 3,748, marking the best year since August 2005. Pending contracts were up 10.7 percent, reaching the highest point in a decade in the metro.
New listings are falling slightly in August, by 0.4 percent, while active listings dipped 12.6 percent. Days on market dipped as well, from 39 days last year to 29 in August 2016.
