District of Columbia Housing Monitor

A quarterly report by NeighborhoodInfo DC tracking housing conditions in Washington, D.C.

Read the latest issue, or read previous issues.

The District of Columbia Housing Monitor provides a quarterly look at current trends in the Washington, D.C. housing market. Each report tracks changes in residential sales, building permits, housing stock changes, and affordable housing. In addition, each report includes a special focus section that will analyze, in greater depth, developments that are shaping the District of Columbia housing landscape.

The District of Columbia Housing Monitor is made possible by funding from Fannie Mae.

Latest issue

Spring 2009 - Special focus: Home foreclosures in the city's wards and neighborhoods. [released 6/10/09]
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Highlights in this issue

Sales volume for the end of 2008 was almost half the volume five years earlier, following the slump in the housing market that started in late 2007. Sales prices of single-family homes have fallen sharply over the past year, but condominium prices dropped only slightly.
Real estate listing data confirm the housing market slowdown, with larger numbers of listing per sale and increases of time on the market across all types of housing.
Single-family home prices fell in all wards in the city during 2008, except for Ward 2. The steepest declines were in Wards 4 and 5. Condominium prices also fell in almost every ward, except Ward 5.
In Washington, D.C., foreclosure is a non-judicial process. A notice of foreclosure sale must be sent to the homeowner and to the D.C. Recorder of Deeds.
Foreclosure notices have been steadily increasing since 2006.
The number of single family homes and condominiums in foreclosure has reached the highest level in the past eight years.
Compared to four or five years ago, properties in the foreclosure process today are much more likely to end up in a foreclosure sale.
The time to reach foreclosure sale has accelerated in recent years.
Foreclosure activity is not uniformly distributed throughout the city. Wards and neighborhoods with lower property values tend to have higher rates of foreclosure starts and sales.
The three neighborhood clusters with the highest rate of new foreclosure starts were among the lowest-priced areas in the city.
Foreclosure is not only a problem that affects homeowners. Renters occupy many homes and condominiums in the District of Columbia, and multifamily rental properties are entering foreclosure at increasing rates.

Previous issues

Winter 2008 - Special focus: Tracking Subsidized Housing. [released 3/26/08]
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Additional data: Section 8 Multifamily Report (PDF)

Full-page maps:
Map 1. Affordable housing developments by subsidy type (PDF)

Highlights in this issue

Sales of condominiums remained steady in the first two quarters of 2007, but volume was lower than one year earlier. Sales of single-family homes were also down from the prior year. Sales prices of houses were up over the year, while condominium prices fell.
Monthly real estate listings for condominium and cooperative units were lower, on average, than in 2006. Housing units for sale also spent more time on the market in 2007.
Second-quarter sales prices of single-family homes were down in most wards from the previous year.
Construction of new housing units was on a slower pace during 2007 than in 2005 or 2006, but was still greater than in recent years prior to 2005. Building permits in 2007 included a relatively large share of new single-family homes.
Cumulative losses of Section 8 housing totaled 1,995 units through June 2007.
Almost 35,000 units of subsidized, affordable housing exist, or are in development, in the District of Columbia, and 9,772 households benefit from housing choice vouchers, a portable subsidy not tied to a particular housing unit.
Ward 8 has by far the largest share of projectbased housing units, as well as the largest number of voucher households.
Taxable corporations and partnerships, most likely for profit entities, account for the largest share of property owners of project-based subsidized housing.
Over 10,000 housing units are set to have their affordability restrictions expire by 2010, presenting a continuing challenge to preserving affordable housing in the city.

Summer 2007 - Special focus: Neighborhood sales trends: 1996 - 2006. [released 12/10/07]
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Additional data: Section 8 Multifamily Report (PDF)

Highlights in this issue

Sales volume for single-family homes in the fourth quarter of 2006 fell below levels one, five, and ten years earlier. Sales prices of houses and condominiums are down from one year ago.
Monthly real estate listings of single-family homes, condominiums, and cooperatives decreased slightly in the first quarter of 2007, but units continued to spend longer on the market before being sold.
Wards 1 and 8 had the strongest price growth in single-family homes between the fourth quarters of 2005 and 2006, while Ward 2 had the steepest price decline. Condominium sales and prices grew markedly in Wards 7 and 8 in 2006.
The construction of new multifamily housing, along with rental conversions, has led to a steep increase in condominium housing in the District of Columbia.
Cumulative losses of Section 8 housing totaled 1,389 units between 2000 and 2006.
While such neighborhoods as Shaw and Logan Circle have been the hot performing markets over the past ten years, home prices have flattened or fallen in many of these neighborhoods recently.
Other neighborhoods, including Ivy City and Columbia Heights, experienced slower, but nonetheless solid, price growth between 2005 and 2006.
Despite the overall market slowdown, several neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, such as Congress Heights and Bellevue, experienced accelerating price growth through 2006.
The condominium market has been more susceptible to the housing slowdown than the singlefamily home market, which has led to sharper recent price drops in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant. Nonetheless, other neighborhoods, such as Foggy Bottom, continued to show strong price growth for condominiums in 2006.

Spring 2007 - Special focus: Mortgage lending trends: 1997 - 2005. [released 6/26/07]
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Additional data: Section 8 Multifamily Report (PDF)

Highlights in this issue

Housing demand continues to slow; median third quarter sales prices for single-family homes and condominiums are down from one year earlier.
Real estate listings of single-family homes and condominiums decreased between the third and fourth quarters of 2006, but the time houses spend on the market continued to increase.
Prices show definite signs of declining or flattening in all wards except Wards 7 and 8.
Denial rates for home purchase loan applications rose again in 2005; almost one quarter of all loan applications in Wards 7 and 8 were denied.
Home buyers in Wards 5, 7, and 8 were more than 12 times more likely to take out a high interest rate loan than were buyers in Ward 3.
The share of home purchase loans for second home and investment properties continues to increase.
As housing prices have increased, the share of home purchasers who are very low income has dropped dramatically.

Winter 2007 - Special focus: Who Owns the Neighborhood? [released 2/21/07]
Read this issue (PDF)

Additional data: Section 8 Multifamily Report (PDF)

Full-page maps:
Map 1. Owner-occupied residential property by neighborhood cluster (PDF)
Map 2. Government-owned residential property by neighborhood cluster (PDF) [map not in report]
Map 3. Government-owned nonresidential property by neighborhood cluster (PDF) [map not in report]

Highlights in this issue

Housing demand is down from one year earlier, while sales prices have increased modestly.
Real estate listing data reinforce evidence of a housing market slowdown.
Single-family home prices continued to accelerate in Ward 2, with the median price surpassing $1 million. Wards 7 and 8 also experienced very rapid price growth over the year.
Most residential property in the District of Columbia is owned by individual owner-occupants (homeowners), particularly owners of single-family homes.
The largest shares of owner-occupied residential land are found in Wards 3, 4, and 5, with two neighborhood clusters in Ward 4 having more than 90 percent owner-occupied land.
Government ownership of residential land is highest in Wards 6, 7, and 8, while ownership by nontaxable organizations is highest in Wards 2 and 7.
The federal government controls a majority of the nonresidential land in the District of Columbia.
The federal government and the District of Columbia own more than half of all nonresidential land in Wards 3, 6, 7, and 8. Nontaxable organizations own more than one-fifth of the nonresidential land in Ward 5.

Fall 2006 - Special focus: Mortgage lending trends.
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Highlights in this issue

Evidence mounts that the District of Columbia home sales market is slowing.
Except for Wards 1 and 7, all Wards experienced price declines at the start of 2006, but several Wards still recorded strong year-over-year price increases.
Home building continues on a record-breaking pace, particularly for multifamily housing.
Thousands of federally assisted housing units remain at risk.
The number of new home purchase loans has increased steadily over the past 10 years, while denial rates for loan applications are once again rising.
Levels of subprime mortgage lending, which increased slightly between 2003 and 2004, were much higher in Wards 5, 7, and 8 than in the rest of the city.
The median income of mortgage borrowers has increased 38 percent in real terms since the mid- to late-1990s and reached $100,000 for the first time in Wards 1 and 6.
The share of home purchase loans to African-American borrowers rebounded slightly from past declines, while those to Hispanic and Asian borrowers continued to increase.
About one-third of all home purchase loans were to lone female borrowers; such borrowers accounted for roughly half of all loans in Wards 7 and 8.

Summer 2006 - Special focus: Neighborhood-by-neighborhood home sales trends.
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Highlights in this issue

The District of Columbia's home sales market reached new heights in 2005.
By the end of 2005, the city's sales market showed signs of cooling, but strong price gains continued.
Price growth leadership in the city is shifting to the east.
The role of investors and second-home buyers has increased, particularly in the condominium market.
Home building in the District of Columbia reached a 40-year high in 2005 and continues to accelerate.
The city's stock of condominium units has mushroomed in the past four years.
Thousands of the District of Columbia's federally assisted housing units are at risk of loss.