Delta Associates: DC Metro Condo Market Continues to Improve

 

  

Delta Associates released its Washington Condominium Market Overview for mid-year 2012 on July 5.  The condo market continues to improve in the Washington metro area by most measures including increased sales volume, percentage of newer product on the market, and prices.  Delta anticipates prices to continue their upward movement over the next 18 to 24 months; sales pace will pick up as well.

The strongest sales in the District were in the Capital East market — which includes Capitol Hill and the H Street corridor.

• Sales: New unit sales volume in the Washington metro area totaled 571 net sales in the Second Quarter of 2012, 36% higher than the quarterly average in 2011.
   
• Prices: New unit prices increased by 2.2% metro-wide in the 12-month period ending June 2012 in the Washington metro area, the first year-over-year increase in price since 2005.  Condo resale prices increased 8.5% since last May.
  
  
• Concessions: In the Washington metro area, concessions average 2.6% of asking price as of June, 2012 -- 70 basis points higher than a year ago.
  
  
• Inventory: Washington is experiencing low housing inventory in most areas.  In Mideast DC — Shaw, Columbia Heights, the 14th Street corridor, Adams Morgan, U Street corridor, Brookland and Eckington neighborhoods — Delta reports there is less than six months of new inventory left to sell.

  

* * *

 

Delta Associates is a firm of experienced professionals offering research, advisory, and valuation services to the real estate industry for over 30 years. The firm's Housing Outlook draws from a wide variety of sources including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the National Association of Realtors, Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller, and the U.S. Census.