Urban Wire Explore D.C. Housing-Market Changes With New Interactive Tool
Graham MacDonald
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A new tool released by NeighborhoodInfo DC provides detailed, ward- and neighborhood cluster-level information on condominium and single-family home sales in the District of Columbia from 1995 to 2011, with data updated annually. The interactive map and data display allows for analysis across neighborhoods over time. For those interested in conducting their own detailed analysis, the full dataset can be downloaded.

This interactive tool allows people to explore changes in the city’s housing market during the housing market bubble, the recent recession, and the current recovery. Despite declining home sales throughout the District from 2005—just before the height of the nation’s housing boom—to 2011, median sales prices for single-family homes have held steady and even increased slightly through the recession and the start of the recovery. In contrast, both sales volume and median condo prices fell significantly between 2005 and 2011.

However, these broad trends mask significant disparities between wards and neighborhoods. (Click the image below to go to the interactive tool.)

 

Home prices went up in all wards during the housing market bubble, followed by declines during the recession. But in places such as Wards 2 (downtown), 3 (Northwest), and 6 (Capitol Hill), the price increases started sooner and lasted longer than in other areas, such as Wards 7 and 8 (east of the Anacostia). Later price declines were also steeper in Wards 7 and 8 (27 to 28 percent lower between 2007 and 2011) than in Wards 2, 3, and 6 (7 to 10 percent lower).

Differences among neighborhoods are also striking. Some neighborhood clusters, such as the Near Southeast–Navy Yard cluster in Ward 6, have experienced large gains in sales prices for median single-family homes (49 percent) and condos (27 percent) between 2006 and 2011. On the other side of the coin, some of the hardest hit neighborhoods, such as the Ivy City–Trinidad cluster in Ward 5, experienced large drops in single-family median prices (-39 percent) during that same time period.

These data can tell many other stories, and we invite you to explore the interactive tool and download the data to find your own. NeighborhoodInfo DC will update these maps with new sales data as they become available. We expect the 2012 data to be added by early summer. Sales data for single-family homes are also available in NeighborhoodInfo DC’s Neighborhood Profiles, along with additional information on housing, foreclosures, demographics, and many other indicators across different geographies. Other local interactive features on the site include our map of foreclosures in Prince George’s County.

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Research Areas Housing
Tags Housing markets Housing and the economy
Policy Centers Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center