For Washington area, real estate market turnaround is in full swing
Five years after the housing market collapsed, sending the economy tumbling with it, here’s what recovery in the Washington area looks like: Inventory is tight, home sellers are receiving multiple offers and buyers are competing with investors and their all-cash offers for prime properties.
In some ways, it’s like 2006 all over again: Winning offers often come in thousands above list price, without inspection contingencies and, in some cases, without even a mortgage contingency.
Because of a series of government regulations aimed at addressing the easy credit/no-doc policies that led to the meltdown, analysts say, the current local market isn’t in bubble territory. The boom results largely from job growth — more people want to live close to work in the city and Metro stations — rather than an influx of unqualified borrowers.
Home prices have mostly recovered and construction starts are 85 percent of where they should be, both surpassing the national average, says Jed Kolko, chief economist at San Francisco-based online real estate site Trulia.
Kolko says the national housing market is 64 percent recovered. But whether the entire D.C. area market is considered 60 percent, 75 percent or 90 percent recovered is an open question.
Local housing experts, agreeing that they would not like to see a return to the bubble days when the metrics were based on artificially inflated conditions, are determining a new definition of what a normal, fully recovered market should be.
“The peak is not necessarily a healthy market,†said Jeannette Chapman, research associate at the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.
Researchers are looking at whether the housing market can accommodate the region’s projected population growth and job growth, she added. “There is no magic scale from the past to look at for all this.â€
There’s no question that the market is roaring back.
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For Washington area, real estate market turnaround is in full swing
Five years after the housing market collapsed, sending the economy tumbling with it, here’s what recovery in the Washington area looks like: Inventory is tight, home sellers are receiving multiple offers and buyers are competing with investors and their all-cash offers for prime properties.
In some ways, it’s like 2006 all over again: Winning offers often come in thousands above list price, without inspection contingencies and, in some cases, without even a mortgage contingency.
Because of a series of government regulations aimed at addressing the easy credit/no-doc policies that led to the meltdown, analysts say, the current local market isn’t in bubble territory. The boom results largely from job growth — more people want to live close to work in the city and Metro stations — rather than an influx of unqualified borrowers.
Home prices have mostly recovered and construction starts are 85 percent of where they should be, both surpassing the national average, says Jed Kolko, chief economist at San Francisco-based online real estate site Trulia.
Kolko says the national housing market is 64 percent recovered. But whether the entire D.C. area market is considered 60 percent, 75 percent or 90 percent recovered is an open question.
Local housing experts, agreeing that they would not like to see a return to the bubble days when the metrics were based on artificially inflated conditions, are determining a new definition of what a normal, fully recovered market should be.
“The peak is not necessarily a healthy market,†said Jeannette Chapman, research associate at the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.
Researchers are looking at whether the housing market can accommodate the region’s projected population growth and job growth, she added. “There is no magic scale from the past to look at for all this.â€
There’s no question that the market is roaring back.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/for-washington-area-real-estate-market-turnaround-is-in-full-swing/2013/08/29/bc918e6a-09a7-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_story.html
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