Home Prices rise in the Region (Columbia: for sale, 2013, home sales)

[Mr Beco]

Home prices in the District of Columbia rose 13.6 percent between March 2012 and March 2013 to reach a median sales price of $460,000, the highest on record for the city, according to a report released by RealEstate Business Intelligence on Wednesday.

In northern Virginia, the price increases were even more notable; Alexandria and Falls Church saw prices rise 24 percent and 37 percent, respectively. March also marked the fifth month in a row that the median price in the DC area increased (year-over-year) by double digits.

Even as prices rise in the region, homes are selling at their fastest rate in eight years, according to the report.

The median number of days that a home for sale is spending on the market is a mere 15 days currently. To put that number in perspective, homes are now selling about three times faster than just 12 months ago.

Despite evidence that it is a very attractive time to be a seller, a low inventory of homes on the market continues to plague the region. The RBI report reveals that there were 6,289 active listings in the DC area at the end of March, 4,200 fewer listings compared to last March.

More on inventory from the report:

The subtle signs of improvement in new listings that occurred last month have faded. There were 5,817 new listings in March, 15.8 percent lower than last March. New listings rose 28.1 percent from last month, but this is well below the 10-year average February-to-March change for the region of +41.1 percent.

Here are a few other interesting statistics from the report:

The average sales-to-original-list-price ratio reached 97.6 percent in March, the highest ratio in nearly 7 years.

Closed home sales rose 6.7 percent, the 12th consecutive month with a year-over-year gain.
The area that RBI analyzes includes DC, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church City.