DC Metro Sees Largest Pending Home Sales Increase in a Decade

RBI Pending Home Sales Index™ Reports a 33 Percent Jump Year-Over-Year; Home Prices Slip

Rockville, MD – (March 10, 2011) – According to data released today by RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), an MRIS company, the Washington, DC metro area housing market showed the largest year-over-year increase in pending home sales although housing prices remained weak.

“There was a 33 percent year-over-year increase in the number of contracts signed in February, the largest increase in more than a decade,” says housing market expert and RBI analyst Jonathan Miller. “The number of signed contracts remains 13.7 percent below the ten year average but activity has begun to expand.  Unusually restrictive mortgage lending conditions continue to keep housing prices in check.” 

To track the local housing market, the RBI Pending Home Sales Index™ [Washington, DC Metro Area] offers a two-year moving window on the housing market using pending sales and median sold price.  The results include new pending sales for each month through and including February 2011. The market area includes: Washington, DC, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church City.

“The RBI Pending Home Sales Index™ provides unique insight into the state of the current housing market by measuring the number of signed contracts through the most recent month, the only metric currently available that does this,” says Miller.  “The median sales price, which has an advantage over average sales price because it removes outliers, is provided to show the relationship between signed contract activity and prices.”

Based on the figures released by RBI, Miller dissects the volatility between home prices and pending sales in the Washington, DC Metro area.  According to Miller:

• Pending home sales see largest year-over-year increase in more than a decade. There were 4,044 contracts signed in the month of February, up 33 percent from 3,041 contracts signed in the same period a year ago.  However the pending sales total was 13.7 percent below the monthly average for the last ten years as tight credit conditions temper sales activity.  The number of signed contracts increased since the beginning of the year, consistent with historic seasonal expectations.
• Median sales price slips.   The median sales price for the region declined 2.9 percent to $300,000 from $309,000 in February 2010, returning to the same level in February 2009, before the federal government stimulus for homebuyers was initiated.
• Active listings and the new listing subset edged higher over the year as sellers tested the market.  There were 13,511 active listings in February, 3.6 percent more than in February 2010.  New listings grew at a similar pace of 3.2 percent over the same period.  The gain in pending sales more than offset the increase in active listings as measured by the absorption rate—the number of months to sell all active listings at the current pace of new pending sales activity.  The rate was 3.3 months in February, down from 4.3 months in February 2010 and down from 6.5 months in February 2009.
• Days on market expanded by nearly two weeks over the past year.  The average home in the region that went to contract in February took 85 days to sell, nearly two weeks longer than the same period a year ago. Days on market averaged three and a half weeks faster than the same period two years ago, shortly after the credit crunch began at the end of 2008.

The full monthly data report for all jurisdictions in the MRIS region, along with charts and graphics, can be found at www.rbintel.com/statistics.  RBI is the only company in the Mid-Atlantic region that provides timely, online access to statistical information directly from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

Jonathan Miller is available for comment on this month’s RBI data as well the RBI Pending Home Sales Index™.  Interview requests can be sent to Tina McCormack at 301-585-5034 or tina@cfoxcommunications.com.