Buy Alexandria Real Estate: The Patient is Recovering -- Get the Report on D.C. Area Real Estate Market

"The Washington area housing market is in the early phases of the recovery cycle.  Of note, most major market indicators have improved compared to one year earlier."

If you're in the market to buy or sell a home in the D.C. or Northern Virginia area, you need all the information you can get.  More than that, you need quality, reliable local information based on facts and figures, not sensationalized newspaper, magazine and television reporting hyping the ups and downs of the market to gain readership and sell advertising space.

Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), the company that runs the Multiple Listing Service for the D.C. metropolitan area has just released its Trends in Housing Year-End 2009 Report.  This report features an analysis of the regional economy, an examination of regional housing data and a review of trends, and discussion of the housing sector's impact on other industries.

Some of the significant findings include:

• In 2009, the number of homes sold in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area was up 11.4% from 2008.
  
  
• From December 2008 to December 2009, average home sales prices are UP 3% in Alexandria, 14.5% in Arlington, and 14.6% in D.C.!
  
  
• Washington area has the lowest unemployment rate among major metro areas -- 6.1%, compared to 10.0% nationwide.
  
  
• Low mortgage interest rates and the $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit lured many buyers from the sidelines.
  
  
• Metro-D.C. home sellers continue to make concessions to buyers to facilitate sales, but those concessions are shrinking.
  
  
• In 2010, renewed demand will continue to yield yearly price gains with gains first apparent in the outer suburbs, but extending to other sub-areas by late 2010/early 2011.
  
  
• The National Association of Homebuilders estiamtes that the extended and expanded tax credit will generate 180,000 additional home sales nationally.
  
  
• The D.C. area local economy hit the bottom during the 1st half of 2009 and recovery is now underway.
  

CONCLUSION:  BY MOST MEASURES, THE WASHINGTON METRO AREA HOUSING MARKET IS PERFORMING BETTER THAN MOST OTHER METROPOLITAN AREAS.

There's much much more in this 30 page report, including information on how foreclosures are affecting the market, information on new legislation affecting the housing sector, many graphs and charts, and predictions for the upcoming years.

Would you like a copy of the full report?  Send me an e-mail at brian@brianblock.com requesting it or leave a comment on this post.