While some news reports have suggested that DOGE would seriously harm our local market, Bright MLS reports [page accessed May 27] that our market is faring better than the larger Mid-Atlantic Region possibly thanks to DOGE. Federal workforce changes may have led to a greater supply of homes for sale, which Bright maintains has been beneficial to our regional real estate market.
It’s positive for sellers because prices remain high, despite more inventory, and while some buyers may be holding off, there remains enough demand to keep prices from declining. “If D.C. area homeowners are looking to sell, it appears as though there are still many ready buyers across the region,” says Bright economist Lisa Sturtevant, PhD. “Homebuyers in the region have more negotiating power than they would have had a year ago, but sellers are not having to make major concessions on price,” concludes Sturtevant.
We see similar trends in metropolitan areas nationally, so it is not clear that DOGE is the only reason for our market activity. Nationally speaking, home prices have gone up in the first quarter of the year in more than 80 percent of metropolitan areas, according to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) quarterly market report.
“Most metro markets continue to set new record highs for home prices,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a NAR press release. “In the first quarter, the Northeast performed best in both sales and price gains by percentage. Despite the stronger job additions, the South lagged with declining sales and virtually no price appreciation.”
There are exceptions, particularly Florida, which is a buyers’ market in many areas. But Florida’s market does not necessarily signal a potential trend for the larger market. It’s affected by unique factors, particularly hurricane damage during the past couple of years and insurance regulations.
Nationally, the number of homes selling has edged down a bit and it’s taking longer to sell homes, but as Yun explained in recent NAR news post, we are still in a “mild sellers’ market” for the nation at large.
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