The Washington region’s real-estate market is beginning to show a little spring fever, with new listings, showings and contracts all up for the week ending Feb. 4 compared to the preceding week.
In terms of a year-over-year comparison, however, there is still some ground to make up.
Figures were reported by the Bright MLS multiple-listing service and analyzed by the GazetteLeader and include the District of Columbia; Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church in Virginia; and Montgomery, Prince George’s and Frederick counties in Maryland.
For the week, regional new listings totaled 1,077. That’s up 17.6 percent from a week before as the market starts to get the springtime vibe, and is even up (albeit just 0.8%) from the same week a year before.
New contracts for the week totaled 1,114, up 16.3 percent from a week before but down 11.3 percent from a year ago.
Showings, another key market indicator, totaled 21,033 for the week, up 7 percent from the week before but down 15.9 percent from a year ago.
With inventory still somewhat constrained, prospective sellers were happy to be somewhat aggressive. The median list price of $598,000 for all homes that came to market for the week was up 1.4 percent from a week before and up more slightly (0.5%) from a year ago.
For homes that went to contract during the week, it took a median 19 days from the time of listing to get there. That’s an improvement from 22 days for homes that found a suitor a week before, and from 24 days from a year ago.
Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. Most recent figures are preliminary and are subject to revision.
For more data, see the Website at brightmls.com/marketupdate.
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Up in five, down in two – that’s the weekly scorecard for year-over-year home-listing price among major jurisdictions in the Washington area.
A foursome (the District of Columbia, a suburban Maryland locale plus three Northern Virginia localities) posted median-listing-price increases for the week ending Feb. 4, while another Northern Virginia locale and a second Maryland county saw declines.
Figures were reported by the Bright MLS multiple-listing service and analyzed by the GazetteLeader.
First, those taking an upward trajectory:
• The median listing price in the District of Columbia for the week was $695,000, up from a median listing price of $649,900 a year before.
• The median listing price in Montgomery County, Md., of $594,500 was up from $550,000.
• The median listing price for Arlington homes was $764,950 compared to $749,950 a year before; the median listing price in Fairfax County was $760,000, up from $749,950; the median listing price in Alexandria was $739,000, up from $539,000.
(The Alexandria increase is a decided outlier, likely because more single-family homes were in the sales mix for the week in 2024 than 2023. Using median sales prices rather than averages helps to reduce those types of swings, but can’t eliminate them, particularly in localities with relatively small numbers of sales each month.)
The downer list included:
• The median listing price in Loudoun County was $738,055, off from $775,000 a year before.
• The median listing price in Prince George’s County was $434,500, down from $454,950.
(Bright MLS does not incorporate Prince William County into is coverage; and while it does include the Maryland county of Fredericks and the Virginia cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, they are not included here.)
Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. Most recent figures are preliminary and are subject to revision.
For more data, see the Website at brightmls.com/marketupdate.
