Index Shows Strength in D.C. Home Prices
The $8,000 federal first time homebuyer tax credit expired on Friday, so we're curious to see where the D.C. housing market goes from here. Anyone with a signed contract as of Friday still has until June 30 to close and claim either the first-time buyer credit or the move-up credit. And of course, that $5,000 D.C. first time homebuyer tax credit is still good even after the federal credit expired.
As far as where we are now, the Case Shiller Home Price Index for February was released earlier this week. The 20-city index was positive year-over-year for the first time in three long years. One chart caught my eye, showing the relative strength of D.C. home prices compared to other cities in the index. (Image Courtesy of RedFin)
It's a little hard to make out, but D.C.'s home prices have held up the best since 2000 of any city in the 20-city index. Los Angeles appears to be in second, and is on a somewhat more upward trajectory, while New York City looks like it's actually slipping further.
Case Shiller data for february 2010 (released in April.)
On the SweetDigs DC blog, RedFin does several charts tied to the release of the monthly Case Shiller numbers, including one that breaks out the high, mid and low ranges of the D.C. market. According to Redfin, "All three of DC’s tiers took a tumble between January and February, but the low tier was definitely hit the hardest, falling 1.6 percent. The middle tier dropped 0.6 percent, and the high tier fell just 0.2 percent."
A slightly less encouraging chart shows how D.C. prices have fared since the peak.
This chart shows D.C. slightly ahead of the 20-city index since the peak, but we're still only at about 70 percent of the peak values. At the current rate, we're not going to get close to that peak any time soon, even if we finish 2010 up 5-10 percent from here.
Have you seen any signs that the market is picking up or leveling off?