Pending Sales Activity Follows Expected Seasonal Trends

Rockville, MD –(October 10, 2011) – The following analysis of the Washington, D.C. Metro Area housing market has been prepared by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), and is based on the September 2011 RBI Pending Home Sales Index™ released today.

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OVERVIEW

Home sales in the Washington, D.C. metro area headed into the slower fall market losing some momentum as expected following the end of Washington’s seasonal summer peaks. There were 3,829 new contacts written in September 2011 beating September 2010 by 12.4% and 11.7% ahead of the five year September average. The total September contracts were 8.2% less than the 4,169 contracts signed in August 2011, consistent with the decrease in seasonal activity.  At $338,000, the median sales price for September 2011 showed some resilience as it was the highest September level since 2008.

NAR released its August Existing-Home Sales report this morning and we thought we'd call attention to one line in particular to highlight why local stats are important for every real estate professional to understand:

"Distressed homes – foreclosures and short sales typically sold at deep discounts – accounted for 31 percent of sales in August, compared with 29 percent in July and 34 percent in August 2010."

We thought we'd take a look at the makeup of the DC Metro market to see how it stacks up against these national numbers. Not surprising to see less distressed homes as a percentage of all (we refer to them as "bank-mediated") given the relative strength of the DC metro economy, but it is worth highlighting the difference: