Demand Keeps D.C.-Baltimore Real Estate Markets Expensive

It’s well known that home price increases in the Washington, D.C., Metro area have made it difficult to acquire affordable housing in and around the nation’s capital.

Now, it looks like both D.C. and Baltimore are in high demand with Elliot Eisenberg with RealEstate Business Intelligence reporting that both markets experienced year-over-year jumps in home sales during the month of November.

This apparently occurred in both markets even as prices remained consistent over last year—but not necessarily less affordable as housing demand continued to tick up.

Eisenberg made his assertions based on 2015 MRIS data. According to his reports, the Baltimore metro area reported 2,373 closed sales in November, up 10.1 percent from last year, but down 20 percent from a month earlier. In addition, new home sale contracts shot up 9.2 percent from a year earlier, while still falling on a seasonal basis by 16.6 percent from October.

The median November home price remained at $230,000, which is unchanged from last year despite growing demand. Still, the median sales price for a single-family detached home rose 2.7 pecent to $298,900, while townhome prices rose 1.5 percent to $167,500 and condo prices fell 1.3 percent to $190,000.

Washington, D.C., also continued to see robust home sales in November, with Eisenberg reporting 3,347 closed sales, up 10.2 percent from the previous year, but down 13.5 percent from the prior month. Meanwhile, new contracts reached a level of 4,186 applications–the highest November level reached in a decade, and up 7.4 percent from last year.

Home prices overall remained unchanged, with D.C. seeing a median sales price of $405,000 in November, up 1.5 percent from a month earlier and unchanged from last year in the same metro area. Median prices for D.C. townhomes rose 2.4 percent to $407,000 and single-family detached home sales edged up 2.2 percent to $485,000, the report said.