Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
If you’re looking for a home in Washington, D.C, you might soon be spoiled for choice. Following mass federal layoffs, for-sale signs are popping up like mushrooms in a wet woodland. The number of active listings in the area is up 47% compared to the same time last year, according to WTTG-TV, which cites data from real estate agency Bright MLS.
There were almost 4,952 new pending contracts and 5,925 listings in the D.C. area in March alone, according to Bright MLS data. Lisa Sturtevant, an economist with Bright MLS, told WTTG, “Inventory has just been so tight here in the Washington area; more inventory coming onto the market is a good thing. Even with this increase in new listing activity, we’re still at a level below where we were prior to the pandemic.”
Don’t Miss:
The D.C. housing market, which includes Washington and neighboring parts of Maryland, and Virginia, has been one of the priciest housing markets in the country, with a chronic lack of inventory that has yet to recover from the pandemic lows.
Federal workers have been on the firing line by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, which is aiming to cut alleged wasteful government spending by eliminating jobs. Thousands of jobs have already been cut across several federal departments, including the IRS and the Department of Health and Human Services. However, the amount of money saved has been called into question by many outlets. The resultant number of listings thawed a usually frozen housing market.
Trending: Arrived Home’s Private Credit Fund’s has historically paid an annualized dividend yield of 8.1%*, which provides access to a pool of short-term loans backed by residential real estate with just a $100 minimum.
“I think [sellers] should list as soon as possible,” said Dustin Fox, who leads the Fox Homes Team in Fairfax, Virginia, told Yahoo Finance, “I could be wrong, and your price could continue to go up, but that’s not what I’m seeing right now.”
One sector that has not appeared to have suffered is D.C.’s luxury market. Home sales over $2.5 million are up 25% in the area, according to D.C. data and analytics site Urban Turf. Much of this has been driven by the new administration, which fueled deals that went into contract at the end of the year, the site says. However, one of the biggest D.C. deals so far this year occurred in April, when Meta (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a $23 million cash purchase in the area, according to media reports.
