The real estate market in the DC Metro, Baltimore Metro, Northern Virginia and Greater DC area continued to strengthen in 2012.  We decided to take a closer look at the year-over-year trends for a variety of metrics and identify some Top Fives per region.  Most Expensive, Most Affordable, Biggest Price Increase, Biggest Increase in Sales, Shortest DOM, Longest DOM, and which ZIP codes had the lowest or highest sales to list price ratio per region. 

Of all ZIP codes analyzed, 22206 in Great Falls had the highest median sale price at $961,250. Baltimore's 21223 had the lowest median price at $18,000. 22205 in Arlington had the lowest Median DOM, where half the homes sold were on the market 10 days or less!

Lowest level of new listings for any month on record

OVERVIEW

As the year concludes, most indicators point to a healthier market than last year, but several clues reveal a possible softening of demand in the near-term.  Sales numbers and the median price are up from this time last year, but new contracts have declined slightly for the 2^nd straight month. Additionally, unseasonable declines in sales and median price from November could be an early sign of weakening demand.  The market is experiencing historically low inventory, with active listings at their lowest December-level in nearly a decade, and new listings at their lowest level for any month on record. While intuitively low supply would put upward pressure on prices, it could be that many buyers are deciding to delay their home purchase until more options become available on the market, which is loosening the pressure on pricing as evidenced by the $11,000 drop in the median sale price from November.  Many potential sellers could be hesitant to enter the market during the winter months, so an increase in the spring inventory would likely entice buyers back into the market, and push median prices back up.